


A Stumble into Another World

by EmilyDianaPotter



Series: Who and the Whovian [1]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:53:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 55,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28235721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmilyDianaPotter/pseuds/EmilyDianaPotter
Summary: What would happen if your hero (whom you thought was definitely fictional) suddenly turns up out of the blue (box)? Thats what Liza Cole used to think, until it actually happened, and that too, in the most unexpected of circumstances.
Relationships: Ninth Doctor/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Who and the Whovian [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2068410
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25





	1. The Very Beginning of it All

"Hey there," I forced a smile as I stood up straighter behind the counter as a middle aged woman stood in front of me, wearing a pink cardigan and slinging her leather purse on her hand, "How may I help you?"

The woman sniffed and slung her bag back. She held her head high and smoothed out a pile of curls. "I would like to have the highest rated children's books you have here. And very well known ones," 

I pointed to the shelves on the right, beside the window, "Children's section. I would suggest The Adventure Series or The Book Thief. Life changing ones, those were, for me at least," I murmured, and the woman held up a hand.

"I didn't want the whole backstory, girl, just the book names. It's not like your opinions are going to change my choices anyway," She sniffed, and walked toward the shelves I pointed to, her heels clacking loudly. I only said that the books had changed my life, what was her problem? 

At that moment, another woman walked in. Mrs Patterson. She always pretended to know more about the books. As if she'd even read a single book in her life. Everyone asked for her stupid opinion. Her and her stupid sickly sweet voice and her silk cardigans and Prada purses. 

"Ah, Matilda!" The other woman said, and I rolled my eyes as the two of them hugged and air kissed. What, is this like a soap opera now? "I was waiting for you to come," 

"Allison!" Mrs Patterson gushed, and slung her purse behind her back. 

"I was planning on getting a book for Harold for his birthday. His mother insisted that it had to be a book,"

"Oh! That's wonderful, and you've certainly come to the right person," Mrs Patterson said, fixing her hair and patting Allison's shoulder. 

"Of course, I just need your opinion on what I should get him, he likes mysteries,"

Didn't you just ask me? Mrs Patterson, on the other hand, made a huge show of thinking hard. "I would suggest the Mystery Series or maybe The Three Investigators," I offered, but Allison tutted and held up her hand. "I didn't ask for your opinion. Also, my nephew isn't five. Matilda, what do you think?"

Mrs Patterson made a big show of thinking and then snapped her perfectly manicured fingers, smiling widely. "Ah! I've got it! How about The Three Investigators?" 

She picked up a book from the shelf and held it out to Allison, who grabbed the book from her and looked at it. "Ah, this is wonderful for my dear Harry!"

It's also what I suggested, woman. Allison seemed to light up completely and regard the book as a piece of genius when just six seconds ago, she'd dismissed the thought of even getting it. Rude. And not ginger. At least the Doctor listened to what people had to say, though, no matter how rude and not ginger he was. 

I slumped back on the counter as I sat down and rested my head on my hand, looking out of the window pointlessly. I was an idiot to think that a job at the bookstore actually meant people would listen to what I say or at least consider my suggestions, but no, Mrs Patterson was the one they went to. 

~~~~

"One grilled cheese sandwich, please," I said, pushing a ten dollar bill across the counter. The man behind the counter took it without looking and pulled out a white triangle from the refrigerator nearby and gave it to me. 

"Thank you," I murmured, and walked toward a table outside, and picked up a packet of ketchup from the bowl near the door. 

I sat on a table with two black metal chairs facing the busy road. I flicked away a bit of the peeling black paint of the chair from my hand as I dragged the chair back to sit on it. I opened the ketchup packet and squeezed some onto my sandwich as I bit into it. 

I looked at all the cars, buses, and people travelling across the road, some speeding and some going slowly. There were so many fascinating people on the streets- each one had a story behind them. I could make stories about them in my head all day- hopefully mostly good ones, though. 

I turned to the front of the table as someone else dragged the chair opposite to mine to sit on. It was a redhead with a coffee and a bagel, wearing a brown overcoat. Correction- MY brown overcoat. “You’re late. And wearing my overcoat,” I bit into my sandwich and licked the crumbs off my lips. 

She shrugged and sat down, taking a sip of her coffee. “I wore it to impress Dylan, and he asked me out! Also, I responded with ‘Allons Y’ like you always say for everything, so it was for a good cause!”

“Why don’t you just watch the show like a normal person?” 

She put the coffee cup down, wisps of smoke spiralling from it into the air. She licked her lips and shrugged, "Because normal people don't obsess over fictional sci fi shows,"

Ouch. I frowned and pulled down the plastic covering of my sandwich, "You mean people like Dylan," 

She flinched and smacked her lips, "He's cute, I can do with a slight Doctor Who obsession for that," I raised an eyebrow and she smiled unabashedly. "By the way, today, the power went cut and I asked who turned out the lights, and it seemed to scare the shit out of him, and get this," 

"He thought you made a reference about the Vashta Nerada?" I asked her monotonously, leaning back on my chair. 

Her eyes widened and she pointed her finger at me. "Exactly! I had to smile and nod and pretend that I knew what he meant,"

"Must've been scary," I shook my head in an exaggerated fashion, my hair bobbing about as I did so.

"Tell me about it," She took another sip of her coffee and cupped her face with her other hand, "But it was worth it because he thinks I made that reference on purpose, and maybe he likes me even more now," She grinned at the road and sighed. 

"Who is his favourite Doctor, by the way?" I turned to look at the road too. 

"I don't know, maybe an orthopaedic? He seems like that kind of guy," 

"I didn't mean it that way," I sighed, and finished up my sandwich. 

"Did you know that he has this cute way of telling people to calm down?"

"Well, no-"

"He says 'Don't be lasagne'!" I turned toward her, crumpling up the plastic. "I don't know what it means, but it's so cute, don't you think? And he's so concentrated and level headed but his jokes are always the best! Don't you think he's perfect?"

"He's also very Twelve," I took her coffee cup and took a sip of it, shuddering as the warm liquid hit my oesophagus. I winked at her, smiling, "I approve," 

She raised an eyebrow and smiled, "You do? That's a first,"

"Well, anyone's better than Cristian," I shrugged as we got up to go to the bus stop, "Compared to Mr Thick Thick Thickity Thickface from Thicktown, Thickania, a DoctorWho fan wouldn't be so bad,"

"Hey!" She elbowed me, "Calling Doctor Who a kids show doesn't mean he's the biggest idiot in town," 

"It kinda does," I shrugged and threw the plastic into a trash can nearby.   
\----  
I had just showed out another customer when I jumped as the familiar sound of my phone ringing hit my ears. I felt around the table for it and stood up, looking in my chair in case I had sat on it. “Oh, of course,” I muttered, as I reached for the black purse slung across the back of my chair. I reached into it, pushing through all the other things I had in there until I finally found it. 

I picked the phone upo and answered it without looking at the caller ID. “Hello?”

“Guess what happened?”

“The Time Lords think you’re the Hybrid and The Order of the Phoenix is here to stop them from capturing you?” I deadpanned as I sat back down and leaned down on the table, resting the elbow of the hand with my phone on it on the table, running my other hand through my dark hair. 

“Okay, what the hell was that?” Alice said from the other line. I pictured her eyebrow raised with a poker face. 

“You asked me to guess what happened. I did,” I shrugged.

“Seriously, Liza? Do we have to go through with this all the time?” One hundred percent chance of an exasperated eye roll, “Why can’t you just listen to what I have to say?”

“Because you keep asking for my opinion and then say that you didn’t want to hear it anyway,” I muttered, rolling my eyes, “Anyway, what happened?”

“I may have told Dylan that I was trying to get you into Doctor Who and it may have ended up in him coming over to have a marathon with me after work so that he can give you some background info or something,”

“Are you kidding me? You may have told him?”

“Ugh, you know what I mean, can you not be so grumpy for five minutes and listen to what I have to say?” 

“Okay, okay,” I rolled my eyes. It’s not like I had been doing that for the longest time, right? “What do you have to say?”

“I’m going to need your help so I can appear to look like a nerd in front of Dylan, so you’re going to have to pretend like you know nothing about Doctor Who except that it’s a kids show and has something to do with aliens,”

“I guess it’s a-”

“You can do it?” She exclaimed excitedly, and I had to pull the phone away from my ear and flinch, “Great, I need you to spew out some facts which are the opposite of the actual thing so that I can correct you,”

“No, I was saying that-” I shook my head and stood up.

“And I’m going to have to exchange rooms with you for a while, just move all those pictures of your mom and dad to mine so that it can look like I’m a total Doctor Who nerd,” She said, cutting me off. I shook my head again and gaped a little.

“No, we’re not-” 

“Aw, thanks so much! Bye!” She hung up and I almost slammed the phone down and threw my hands up in the air, “Why can’t she listen to me for once?!”

I ran a hand through my hair and groaned, walking across the store, closing my eyes and almost pulling my hair out. “Why can’t anyone listen to me for once?! Ugh!”

~~~~

I stepped into the metal elevator, and was about to close the doors when a middle aged man wearing a green sweater came running in. “Liza, would you be a dear and stop the elevator from closing?” He was a few yards away as the doors started closing. I pressed the button, and the doors started opening. Mr Jeffrey entered the elevator, wheezing like he’d run a marathon, and put his hands on his knees as he breathed heavily. 

“Thanks,” He wheezed, and I smiled back in return, pressing the buttons for both our floors. "Did you hear about Mabel and that new boy who moved into 504?"

I sighed leaned against the walls, "What did that poor guy do this time?"

"Apparently he had some sort of a gathering and one of his friends called her something, er, inappropriate,"

"Ah. The New Year party he had. Alice said that it was wild after I had run away from there," I laughed, and he stood up.

"Why did you run away?"

I shuddered, images of sweaty dancers and loud music coming to my mind, "It wasn't really my thing, to be frank," 

He clicked his tongue in disapproval and faced me. "Liza, this is the time of your life! You need to enjoy it before you grow up and end up having to listen to your wife and son keep complaining about the neighbors,"

"But I really don't enjoy-"

"Don't make excuses like that, I'm telling you." The elevator pinged, and the doors opened. He walked out and held the door open from the other side, "One day, you're gonna be sitting in your house, working for some company and be so busy. Enjoy your time being free while you can," 

The doors shut and I muttered, "I work at a bookstore!" 

I sighed as the elevator went up to my floor, and pinged as the doors opened. I walked out, adjusting my purse on my shoulder. I put my hand in and fished my key out as I approached my front door. I heard voices of two people laughing as I turned the key. 

“I’m home!” I walked in and took my shoes off before stepping on the carpet (I did NOT want to be killed by Alice and the landlord at any cost). 

“Finally!” Alice was sitting next to a brown haired guy who was wearing a grey shirt and jeans. “We were going to start without you!”

“Really?” I muttered and put my bag on the wooden table. “Hey, you must be Dylan,” I looked at the man, who nodded and grinned. “And you must be L:iza. Alice has told me so much about you,”

“Likewise,” I said, and went to sit next to them. “So, what are we watching?” I hoped we weren’t going to start all the way from series one- I was already in series 8 in my rewatch- and even if it was series one, not the very first episode. “Alice said something about a Doctor Who marathon,”

“Yeah, she said that we needed to get you into the show, and I’m a specialist at that,” Alice turned on the TV and went on to look for the show, grinning at him, “You should totally get her into the show,”

I fought the urge to glare at her, and forced a smile. Why did I have to get myself into all this nonsense? Oh, right. Alice would be ruined if I didn't. She seriously owed me big time for this. "We're gonna start with the first episode, of course," Dylan said, and I smiled at him, "Sounds exciting!" Even though I've seen the episode a million times. "It's not the best opener, but it is really good on a rewatch," 

"Isn't anything better on a rewatch?" Alice said as she put on series one of Doctor Who. The opening credits rolled, and I had to resist the urge to start yelling the tune out loud and instead look at the screen while Dylan did the same thing I wished to do. 

We watched the first half of the episode, till the part where poor Mickey got eaten by a garbage can when Alice paused the episode and looked at me from behind Dylan, her eyebrows raised in a 'how the hell do you even like this' expression. I made a face at her and looked at Dylan, who was staring at the screen even though it was paused. "It's good so far, actually," I said, knowing that Alice found it ridiculous. "This Doctor guy is cool, although, I wonder how he even travels in such a small box," I obviously knew the answer, but, I had to pretend to be a complete idiot in front of him because otherwise, Alice would get jeopardized big time. 

"You'll find out soon," He was grinning, like he couldn't wait for me to find out. Of course, I had to pull a Twelfth Doctor for this and end up pretending to act like my entire understanding of physical space had been transformed, but who knows? Maybe that would be fun. "You'll find it brilliant! Hopefully,"

"I'll be back in a minute, I need to use the bathroom," Alice got up and went toward the other end of the house across the hall, and Dylan turned to me. "So, what shows do you like?"

I shrugged, leaning back on the brown couch, "I don't know, really," Since I'm pretending to not like my favorite show, "I like the Big Bang Theory, but otherwise, I'm not that big on TV shows, you?" 

"Mostly Doctor Who, I mean, once you get into it, nothing compares to it in my opinion, at least," He shrugged, fiddling with the bottom of his shirt, "I mean, it's so different every episode, and-"

He was cut off as a huge scream sounded from the bathroom, and something shattered. I quickly stood up and ran toward the bathroom, not noticing or caring about the center table which I had bumped my foot in. "What happened?!" I yelled as Dylan caught up with me. 

"The mirror, it's- it's- it's alive!" Her response came through, and I started knocking the door. 

"What do you mean it's- open the door!" I continued banging on it as Dylan said, "How can a mirror be alive? Is this a prank?" 

"I-I can't! It's alive, Liza, it's actually alive!" She sounded like she was sobbing, and I continued hitting the door, "What do you mean you can't open it?! Turn the lock!" 

"I can't pull my hand out!" 

"What do you mean?! You're scaring me, Alice, get to the damn point!" 

"I mean that I can't pull my hand out!"

I continued banging on the door, and Dylan said, Do you have some sort of a key to open it? Maybe I could go get it or something," 

"Liza, it's pulling me in even more and it's all blobby in the other parts!" She screamed, and I banged even more on the door, this time more intent on doing something else, "Never mind the key, just smash the damn door!" 

"Do you know how many damages that can potentially cause? Just tell me where the key is and I'll get it!" 

"My best friend is potentially being killed by a living mirror! Get some perspective!" 

"It could all just be a prank, you know!" 

"Do I sound like I'm pranking you?!" Alice screamed from inside and I backed up a little as I attempted to kick the wooden door open. "Oh my God, it's pulling me even farther!" 

"Alice, hold on, I'll try to come in!" I backed up even more and kicked the door again, "Goddammit!" I screamed as pain shot up my leg. 

"Hold on, I've got this!" Dylan came running with- a spoon? "Great, we've got a killer mirror and you're gonna defeat it with a spoon!"

"It's not for the mirror, it's for the door!" 

"Give it here!" I grabbed it from him and rammed it into the doorknob and turned it roughly, not caring whether I'd broken the lock or not, and threw the door open. 

The mirror was rippling in all directions, metallic bumps moving around back and forth. In the middle of a metallic spiral was Alice's hand, starting from the elbow, struggling to pull back.

"It's actually alive!" Dylan gasped. I ran across the room and pulled on Alice's waist. She was screaming as she was getting pulled in further. I pulled hard, straining against the mirror's pull. 

"Wait, there's no reflection!" Dylan yelled, running toward us, still transfixed on the mirror. "I'm getting pulled in, for God's sake!" I pulled Alice, who was getting pulled in faster now. 

"Something is coming through!" Dylan yelled. 

My feet staggered as I hit the wall. I then lurched forward as she was getting pulled in. "I could really use your help, you know!" 

"But there's something coming out of the mirror!" 

"Alice is gonna get pulled in the mirror if you don't help!" 

"There's something getting out of the mirror, didn't you listen to me?!" 

I staggered forward and Alice shrieked. Her arm was fully in- and the mirror was pulling her harder. "That's a problem we can focus on later!" 

"What, and get killed by it later?" 

"Dylan, I agree with Liza, help me!" I struggled to keep Alice's body on the ground as she started almost getting suspended in the air. 

"Look at that, it looks like a hand-"

"I don't care if it's shaped like a freaking Dalek, we need to help Alice, moron!" I was slowly getting suspended myself. Alice was getting pulled in at a faster rate and it was up till her armpit. 

At that moment, a familiar sound reached my ears. "Which idiot is calling me now?!" I yelled, "And why is it so loud?!"

"I thought you weren't a Doctor Who fan!"

"Not our biggest priority now, is it?" Alice screamed as the sound got louder. 

"Okay, that doesn't sound like a phone, unless your phone can walk and amplify by a hundred!" 

"Not our primary concern at the moment!" Alice and I yelled. I staggered even more, and the TARDIS noise intensified. Something pulled me in and I struggled to hold on to Alice. 

I felt my grip on her loosening. "Liza, don't let me go!" Alice screamed, and I tried to resist the pull. "I won't, I'm trying to hold on!" 

"Oh. My. God." Dylan gasped as walls materialized around us and fluctuated. My grip on Alice was loosening as the TARDIS kept materializing around us. "No, Alice!" I tightened my grip and tried to pull a screaming Alice as the pull of the TARDIS was getting stronger. 

"Liza don't let go!"

The walls were becoming more solid. The pull intensified. So did the one on Alice. My grip loosened. Screams from me and Alice. My grip failed. "NO!" 

Alice screamed, as the walls fully materialized. "Liza!" Alice left me completely. The walls were completely solid now. "You've got to be kidding me-" Dylan gasped. 

~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey guys! This is my first story here and I'm half excited and half nervous about it! This is gonna be a little different from many of the 'Oc from our world meets the Doctor' ones mainly because 1) There's gonna be a bunch of changes in the actual plots and 2) Liza's reaction to everything is gonna be a little- well, you'll see in the next chapter lol. I'm gonna be updating once in a couple of days (I don't have an update schedule, the last time I did, things did not go as planned). I really hope you guys liked the chapter and thanks so much for reading! Please tell me your thoughts about this in the comments! Bye!


	2. Stuff that Shocks Me More than a Steven Moffat Episode Happens

"What about Alice, you idiot?!" I stood up in front of the console, to be faced with a very shocked Nine. Frankly, I didn't even bother about that. "She got pulled in, did you notice?!"

"Oi, how did the two of you get here?!" I groaned as Nine pulled out his sonic and pointed it at Dylan, who looked like he was about to explode, "Who are you? Are you spies or something?"

"Are you the Slitheen?" Another voice sounded from the other side of the room. Oh, of course, "Yeah, we're totally Raxacoricofallapatorians, that's why his readings say human! We need to get back now!" I yelled.

"You know what the Slitheen are!" Dylan looked at me as the Doctor looked at his sonic. "Human... " He muttered, "But how can you know about aliens?! And how did you get here? Transmat? Huon particles?"

"You bloody materialized around us!" I yelled, and went toward the console, "Now, get me back to wherever and whenever we were!"

"You're actually the Doctor, like the actual Time Lord, with a TARDIS," Dylan said, and I looked at the console to see if there were any buttons that could help me. "And Alice is in a mirror! Why do you fail to notice that?!"

"Who's Alice? And what's the deal with mirrors?" The Doctor walked around and started bleeping me with the sonic. I found a bunch of blue switches with a button that said "past". I was about to press it, when the Doctor grabbed my hand and pushed me back, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Going back to exactly where I came from since you're so helpful!" I started to go back to the console, but he grabbed my wrist and pushed my back, "This is my TARDIS, only I get to fly it,"

"But what is the deal with the mirrors?" Rose walked from behind the pillars towards the Doctor. 

"Like I said-" The Doctor interrupted me and pointed to Dylan, "Not you, he'll tell me,"

Dylan looked at the Doctor as if he was about to explode. "Well, uh, the mirror, it- it came to life, sir, it was pretty fascinating and-"

"My best friend was being pulled into it!" I was irritated with the whole incident and just wanted to go back and save Alice. The others seemed to ignore me, though, and continued to listen to Dylan who was bumbling on.

"And it was all metallic and rubber looking, and there was something coming out of it, sir-"

"Call me Doctor, and what was the thing like?"

"Um, excuse me?" I waved my hand around, and got no response. "My best friend just got sucked in, and you're worried about what got out?"

Still no response. "It was like a hand shaped thing, trying to get out of it,"

"Fantastic!" The Doctor said, throwing his sonic up and down. I raised an eyebrow and waved my hand around again. "Hello? Is anybody listening?"

They were still talking to each other about the mirror creature when I sighed. I walked toward the console and closed my eyes. I took a deep breath and looked at the past button. I was about to press it when-

"What's wrong with you?!" The Doctor seemed to have noticed me, and he rushed toward me. "Why would you do that, I just told you that I'm the only one who can fly the TARDIS!"

"Excuse me, my friend is in danger and is potentially dead, so I don't have the time for a chat right now!"

"Listen, kid-"

"Liza Cole to you!"

"Yeah, whatever, Liza Cole, like I was saying, people die, and you have to accept that!"

"No way I'm gonna accept that!"

"How dare you talk back to him?!" Rose glared at me from the other end of the console, next to Dylan who looked scandalised at my reaction to the whole situation. "He's the only chance you've got of staying alive!"

"I never asked for that chance, did I?" I turned back and glared at the Doctor, who was glaring back with equal intensity. "Listen, maybe your whole genocide- planet destruction stunt has clouded you, but individual lives matter too! Not everything is about some sort of flashy heroic planet saving act, or about you and your stupid obsession with cynicism and how 'people die and I have to accept that' or whatever. I grew up idolising the Doctor-"

"But he is the Doctor!" Dylan said, pointing toward him and the TARDIS.

The Doctor, on the other hand, had his hands folded and was looking at me, an unreadable expression on his face. I looked back at him and gestured to him, "This isn't the Doctor! The Doctor knows that people die, but he never accepts it, and tries to prevent it from happening! This," I gestured to the Doctor again, "Is a brooding teenager who specializes in angsty pessimism, which literally nobody asked for!"

Dylan gasped, his eyes wide, while Rose glared at me, gripping onto the console. I took a few shaky breaths to calm down as blood flowed through my arteries, rushing through to my brain. I looked up at the Doctor, who stared at me with a hard expression, his hands folded tightly. "How do you know? That I destroyed a planet and committed genocide?"

His voice was dangerously low, and his glare was boring through me. I gripped onto the console. My throat felt dry, and I had to grip onto the edge of the console to not fall. I took a deep breath and tried to sound as steady as possible, "It doesn't matter, now, take me back,"

"How did you know?"

"It doesn't matter!"

"Yes, it does! It does matter!" He yelled, staring right into my face. I shrunk back, shocked by his tone (although, it shouldn't have been surprising, I'd just brought up the worst topic in the history of worst topics), "I'm asking you again, how did you know?"

"Um, there's a er, TV show based on your life-" Dylan said, clearing his throat, his voice shaking a little.

The Doctor looked at him in what looked like disbelieving anger, and turned back to me, contempt etched onto his face. Brilliant, Liza, his treatment toward you and that lone Dalek have no difference. "Typical ape behaviour," He shook his head. "Watching all sorts of violence on your telly and enjoying wars as so many others suffer,"

"The war wasn't televised, we just heard about it from Christopher- I mean, you," Dylan shook his head as he accidentally almost said 'Christopher Eccleston'.

"Who's Christopher now?" Rose asked, folding her hands, "The director for your show?"

"No, he's the guy who played him," Dylan gestured to the Doctor, who was looking indifferent to how he was five seconds ago, except the anger was much more hardened and cold. "But you know what happened and you," He gestured to Dylan, who shrunk back a bit, "Seem to idolize me. For committing genocide. Typical humans, all bloodthirsty and all,"

"Excuse me?" I stood up straighter to look at him. He turned around, almost challenging me. I looked back at him defiantly, "We never idolized you for committing genocide," Even though you hadn't even done so in the first place, but spoilers, "It's how you coped and learnt from your mistakes that made us idolize you. The fact that you still remained the Doctor and didn't turn into a ruthless soldier is why Dylan and I even admired you in the first place! Looks like we were wrong, or at least, I was wrong, I have no idea what Dylan expected,"

"I killed billions of people!"

"You saved billions more! Sometimes we make mistakes, and sometimes they seem irredeemable, but that doesn't mean you end up acting all mopey and ignore the things that can be fixed! You're the Doctor, for God's sake, so act like the Doctor! It's not that hard to be yourself, you know!"

"She's right, Doctor," Dylan whispered, "You had to choose between Gallifrey and the rest of the universe. You did the right thing, choosing the universe, and the universe couldn't thank you more for that,"

"If you call genocide 'doing the right thing'-"

"You were faced with two wrong things to do! You just chose the less wrong option!" Dylan said, but the Doctor seemed unconvinced.

"And that doesn't justify what you're doing now! The Time War was bound to end badly and you're moping about it now! I understand it's your trauma or whatever, but there's an actual person who's dying now and can possibly be saved so buck up, and be the Doctor because that's who we need now!"

He raised an eyebrow at me and I continued looking up at him. After a few moments, he sighed, "Okay then, where do you live?"

"Apartment 3W, Rainier Enclave, Stonebrooke- or do you need space time coordinates or something?" He ran around the console, flipping switches. Dylan looked at him, mesmerized, while Rose stood there, waiting for him to ask her to do something, probably. I followed him around, looking at all the things he was doing. I attempted to flip a switch titled, 'speed', but he slapped my hand away.

"Only I do the flying here, and no, we don't need space time coordinates. Also, broody teenager who specializes in angsty pessimism?"

I stopped in my tracks as the blood rushed to my cheeks. I gritted my teeth, "That was a moment of weakness, now take me home,"

"Really, because it looked like you were yelling at me," He shrugged. "Anyway, we're here- about two seconds after I materialized around you, exactly where we were,"

I dashed through the doors, pushing them open. "Alice, hold on, we're-"

The blonde in question stood there, pulling some grey sticky stuff off her. When she looked at me, her eyes widened. "Liza, thank goodness! I thought something horrible happened to you! Who's that?" She frowned at the Doctor and Rose, who had just gotten off the TARDIS.

"It's the Doctor, how do you not know that? You said you were a fan if the show-"

"Is that really the biggest of priorities right now?" I sighed, and ran toward Alice. I threw my arms around her. "Oh my God, I thought you were done for, I'm so glad you're safe!"

She hugged me back and murmured, "So am I, I got so worried when you disappeared!"

"You mean when the TARDIS materialized around her, I thought you said you were a Doctor Who fan!"

I pulled back and looked at Dylan. "Dude, seriously, that's your biggest concern?"

"Wait," The Doctor, who was leaning against the TARDIS wall, walked toward us, sonic in his hand as he scanned around, "You," He pointed it at Dylan, "You said you saw something coming out of the mirror, didn't you?"

"Y- yeah," He shoved his hands into his pockets, "The hand thing, why?"

"If you said it was coming out two seconds ago, then where is it?" The Doctor scanned the mirror with his sonic.

"Is that really our biggest priority now?" I looked at the Doctor, who frowned at Alice.

"Yes it is, there was something coming out of the mirror two seconds ago, it can't have disappeared,"

"Maybe Dylan was imagining things, he tended to have his head in the clouds a lot like Liza," Alice said, holding onto my hand.

"I didn't-"

"Then how did you pull yourself out? Liza here was yelling her head off because she thought you were pulled into the mirror when she let go, how did you pull yourself out in two seconds without her?"

"The mirror just let go after that-"

"Really? Just after Liza let go? I don't know about you, but that's a massive coincidence to me," He looked at me, "And I don't know about you, but that seems a little unrealistic,"

"It let go of me, I swear! Why can't you believe me?!" She looked at me and him, "After the thing materialized around you or whatever, it just stopped! It rippled for a moment and then stopped! Liza, tell him!"

"Liza, do you really think that what she's saying is-"

"Hold on, I'll find out myself," I said, and turned to Alice, "What happened after I went into the TARDIS?"

"I just told you! The mirror shook around for a few moments, rippled, and stopped! I was thrown back and there was this mirror stuff around my hand and it was so sticky as I tried to pull it out! I got up and started pulling it off when you came, do you believe me?"

"Liza, please, she's lying!"

"Liza, I'm not! I swear, it's me, please tell me you trust me!" Alice had tears in her eyes. I moved closer to her, "Doctor, I think you're being paranoid, she's crying," I said.

"Liza, she's toying with you, please, don't believe her!"

"Liza, listen to me! I told you, I was thrown back as it rippled and stopped! There was sticky stuff all over my hands and I was pulling it off! The mirror was alive and rippling one second and then it went still!" Alice gripped onto my hand. The tears were flowing freely now.

"Doctor, she's crying now, you said that there's hope wherever there's tears! She's not lying!"

"Not when they're fake!" The Doctor was about to use the sonic on her. "Don't bleep her, Doctor!"

"Liza, please, listen to me! How did she manage to get out of the mirror? Think about it! Do you really think her description of what happened was true?"

"Liza, I told you exactly what happened, don't listen to him, please believe me!"

I stared at her. Come to think of it, she did describe everything exactly. Almost too exactly. Truth is singular, lies are words, words, words. Was she lying? Was the Doctor telling the truth? I took a deep breath and looked up at her. Time to pull a leaf out of a lizards book, looks like. "Tell me why I should," She opened her mouth while the Doctor groaned. I held up a hand, "But tell me in one word. Not more than that,"

"But that's ridiculous, how can I-"

"Tell me why I should believe you in one word," I bit my lip and balled up my hands into fists, "Alice, please, that's the only way I can,"

"How can I tell you that in one word, Liza, you're being ridiculous!"

"Alice, please," I whispered, digging my nails into my palm. "I just want to make sure,"

"I can't believe you don't trust me, I thought you were my best friend!" Alice was sobbing now, and I moved closer to her.

"Liza, don't, please! She's lying, you were going in the right path till now!" The Doctor was literally begging me. His expression was desperate.

"Alice, I am your best friend-"

"But you think I'm a liar, what does that say about our friendship?"

"Liza, she's meddling with your emotions, please-"

"Alice I never said you were a liar-"

"Then why are you asking me to tell you this?"

"Alice, it's just a precaution, just please tell me, I swear, I believe you-" I reached out to her, but she pulled her hand away.

"Did you ever trust me? How many more times has this possibly happened? Do you even care about me?"

"Alice, I- That's not true, I care for you so much, why would you even think that?"

"Then prove it and believe me,"

"Liza, don't do it!"

"Doctor!" I turned back to him, "I'll do what I like! She's my best friend, maybe I should believe her,"

"Liza, she's clearly lying to you, why can't you see it?! She's just playing with your emotions right now! How could she describe the whole event of her falling off the mirror so accurately, think about it, please!"

"Doctor, I can handle this!" I held up a hand and looked back at Alice. "I believe you," I then pulled her into a tight hug. I pulled back, only to see that my hands were coated in mirror stuff. I wiped it off and turned to her, Want a coffee after all this?"

She nodded, and we walked outside to the living room. It looked completely normal, like none of this had happened. The same sofa, table, and TV. Which was still paused at the scene where Mickey was being pulled into a trash can.

"Hold on, that's Mickey!" Rose, who was in front of the TV with Dylan, pointed at it.

"That's where the two of you disappeared off to!" I said, walking beside them. "Oh, and yes, that's Mickey,"

"My boyfriend is being pulled into the garbage in your show!"

"Well, Nestene Consciousness," Dylan scratched his chin and sat down. "You've already resolved the Alice thing, then?"

"The Doctor is still pissed because she had the common sense to trust me, I think he's in his box now," Alice came beside me and slung an arm around me.

"Oh no, I think he's coming out here," Dylan adjusted himself as the Doctor indeed did walk in and sat next to Dylan, looking at Alice warily.

She stared back at him, while Rose stared back and forth between me and Alice, her eyes narrowed. Dylan, like me, looked extremely uncomfortable with the situation. "Ahem!" I cleared my throat loudly. Everyone looked at me, and I forced an awkward grin, "Coffee, anybody? I'll be back with it right now, so just, er- excuse me for a moment,"

I backed out slowly and ran into the kitchen as soon as I was out of view (somewhat, they could probably still see me and think about admitting me into a mental hospital).

~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: She spent her whole life idolising the Doctor, and when she finally meets him- *smh so much but actually not because I'm an idiot* Anyway, I did update a little sooner than expected, which is a huge accomplishment judging by how much I procrastinate (My conscience points out the fact that I've already pre-written this and just copy-pasted it.. let's just ignore that).
> 
> Anyway, tysm for reading and please let me know your thoughts in the comments! Till the next time!


	3. Things get Weirder

As I walked out with a tray full of coffee mugs, I saw that the tension was still there. The Doctor and Rose were having a staring match with Alice, while Dylan looked at the whole exchange from behind his phone. 

"Coffee, anyone?" I immediately regretted saying that as everyone turned their staring intensities onto me. I laughed nervously and placed the tray on the center table. I passed a cup to Alice, as the Doctor looked at her and then at me, his mug raised to his lips. 

"It's too hot," Alice complained, as she touched the mug and immediately pulled her hand back. 

"Well, I don't know if it's hot enough for that mirror stuff to melt, though," I shrugged and blew into my coffee. The Doctor looked up at me immediately, both his eyebrows raised. 

"It is, otherwise I wouldn't- wait a minute," Alice narrowed her eyes at me, "I thought you said that you trusted me," 

"I trust Alice," I shrugged and took a sip of my coffee. "And I demand to know what you've done to her,"

"But I am Alice!" 

"No you're not, you're a mirror replica. Or, to be accurate you're the thing that got out of the mirror," The Doctor grinned at me as I said that and got up, putting his mug down. 

He pulled his sonic out of his inner pocket and pointed it at her, "So, what are you? What do you want?" 

Alice put her hands up. "Alright, I'm not actually Alice, stop pointing that thing at me," 

The Doctor continued bleeping her. She frowned at him, "I said, stop it!"

"You're made of a mix of glass and silver, like an actual mirror!" The Doctor stared down at his screwdriver, and looked back up in awe. "I thought you were a life form from another dimension! What are you doing here?" 

"Wait, so she's made of what a mirror is made of? Doesn't that make her a part of the mirror?" Dylan said, standing up. 

"I am the mirror, you fool," She narrowed her eyes at him. 

"Wait, so mirrors are life forms now?" Rose asked. 

"Okay, so my mirror is a sentient being that ate my best friend?" 

"One, I didn't eat her, I merely took her form, and two, all mirrors are sentient. We're not even mirrors, in the first place," 

"Then what are you? I swear, I can help you, just let me know why you're here!" The Doctor said, putting his sonic down. 

"And what have you done to Alice, more importantly?" I looked at the mirror, frowning. 

"I've just borrowed your friend's body for the time being, stop acting like I've committed an ultimate crime," 

"You've possessed my best friend!" 

"Liza, calm down-"

"She took over Alice's body, how is that okay?!" 

"I never said it was, just let me talk to her!" 

"Liza, listen to him, maybe you're overreacting to the situation," Dylan sat back down and looked at me. 

"Overreacting?! How am I-"

"LIZA!" The Doctor yelled, glaring at me. "Stop thinking about your friend for one minute and let me talk, for God's sake!" 

I froze, staring at him, eyes wide. I blinked and sat down, staring into my mug. The Doctor sighed. "Like I was saying, why are you here?"

“I shouldn’t have been here. I should have been with my kind, conquering and improving the universe," 

"Who are you?" The Doctor frowned. 

"I am Kroy,"

"Kroy who?" 

"Doctor Who?" 

The Doctor took a deep breath, "Doesn't matter, who are you?" 

Alice- sorry, Kroy, folded her hands and pressed her lips together, "That doesn't matter then, either," 

I shook my head, gritting my teeth. Things would've been so much simpler if the Doctor hadn't bloody materialized around us. The Time Lord in question continued to stare at Kroy, "It does matter, Kroy, who are you? Why have you taken over Alice's body?" 

"I have no other physical form, Doctor, except for being a sentient metal mass," 

"So you attached yourself to a mirror. Why take over Alice though? Why today?" Dylan said. 

"You ask too many questions," Kroy looked at him coldly. The Doctor, on the other hand, beamed at Dylan. "Exactly. He asks questions instead of just obsessing over getting the job over with," 

I looked down, biting my lip. Nobody needed to be a rocket scientist to figure out that he was referring to me. Brilliant. My role model hated me. Absolutely wonderful. 

"Tell me, Kroy, why?" The Doctor asked again. 

"I am alone, Doctor, isolated from my kind. I need to get in contact with them,"

"So you possess the first person you meet?" 

"I'm a shapeless figure. I need a body to function properly," 

"What are you?" Rose asked. I jerked up and looked at her- I had conveniently forgotten that she was there. 

"I am a Cordelian. The only one in these parts," Everyone was looking at Kroy in awe, not noticing me at all. I looked around and slowly inched towards the thermostat. My coffee mug was empty (since I'd gulped it up earlier), and I had placed it on the table. 

After I reached the thermostat, I looked around at everyone. "But why did you decide to resurface today?" The Doctor was asking Kroy. 

"I sensed extraterrestrial activity. I assumed it was my kind looking for me, so I made contact with the first person who came in,"

"That's a weird strategy," Rose muttered, and I slowly turned toward the thermostat and increased the temperature a little. Dylan seemed to have noticed me and raised an eyebrow. I gave him a look as to tell him to shut up. He shrugged and turned away. 

"It's also completely wrong," The Doctor folded his hands and frowned. 

I turned the thermostat up again. Kroy twitched, but seemed to ignore it, "It was the only thing I could do, Doctor, imagine being isolated from your entire species," 

I turned toward the thermostat and increased the temperature, imagining the Doctor's reaction to this. Presumably not a good one. "So you took over an innocent life?" 

"It hardly matters, Doctor, what would be the difference if I controlled one body?" 

"Individual lives matter too, Kroy. I could take you home right now if you like, just let go of Alice," 

"And that comes from a man with no known identity. A man with no name. Tell me, Doctor, how do I trust you?" 

"Just do so, Kroy, please. I swear I'll get you home," The Doctor begged. I looked up at them, just a few feet away. The Doctor seemed to notice me, but looked away immediately, "Or we'll be forced to make you get out," 

I assumed he meant that I stop increasing the temperature until he said so. Kroy hadn't noticed me, and I stayed where I was, trying to remain as unnoticed as possible. 

"I am not afraid of your threats, Doctor," Kroy folded her hands and pursed her lips together. 

"Kroy, please, just, listen," 

"Or what, Doctor? Will you kill me?" She raised her eyebrows and then laughed. The Doctor, however, frowned. "Kroy, I'm warning you for the last time," 

"And I suspect you're just delaying this because you don't have a plan," 

The Doctor looked at me again. I raised my hand near the thermostat and was ready. "Oh, I do have a plan, I was just afraid to enforce it, Kroy," He folded his hands and snapped his fingers, "Now, Liza!" 

I increased the temperature, biting my lip. The heat increased, and I felt the urge to turn on a fan. "Oh my God," Rose whispered, and Dylan gasped. Kroy was screaming and I winced. She still had Alice's voice. "What have you done?!" 

I slowly turned around, biting my lip harder, and my eyes widened as I saw what was in front of all of us. Alice was crying silver. The mirror stuff leaked out of her eyes and nose like blood and her screams were getting louder. Rose had her eyes closed and her hands covering her ears while Dylan was staring at the whole scene, his eyes wide. 

The Doctor, on the other hand, grabbed my coffee mug and went toward Kroy, who had fallen in her knees. I closed my eyes and pressed my hands on my ears. The screaming was muffled, but it was still heard. I squeezed my eyes tightly, biting my lip hard. Was this ever gonna stop? 

A few moments later, everything went quiet. I opened my eyes nervously and looked toward where Alice was. She was on the ground, unconscious, while the Doctor was holding the mug in his hand, staring into it. 

~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Apologies for the short chapter, I was really busy thanks to school, and have exams coming up soon- Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! What do you think will happen next? Please let me know on the comments!


	4. I Become Amelia Pond

I slowly pulled my hands off my ears, and ran toward Alice. She had silver tracks on her face and had her eyes closed, but she seemed to be breathing normally. I sighed and checked her pulse. Normal. I let out a huge breath and turned to the Doctor, who was showing the mug to Dylan. 

The Doctor turned to me and smiled, “She’ll be fine. Just a little rest. That’s all she needs.”

I smiled at him and nodded, “I’ll make sure that happens. Thank you, Doctor.”

“You’re welcome, Liza Cole.” 

I turned back to Alice and pushed her hair back as the Doctor was telling Dylan and Rose what was in the mug. “Well, we better get going then,” The Doctor stood up. I looked up at him, “Back to your dimension?” 

“Yeah,” He looked at the mug, “Well, after we return Kroy back to her home planet.”

“Do you know where that is?” Dylan asked him. 

The Doctor shrugged. “Well, I’ll have to do some research, but I’ll get there some time. And then I’ll go back to my world- somehow.”

“Well, it was great meeting you.” I took a deep breath and smiled. He grinned back. "And you,” We stood there, staring at each other for a few seconds, until Dylan cleared his throat. 

The Doctor looked up and blinked. “Ah, yes!” He grinned at me again. “We’ve got to put this” He raised the mug, “Back in its natural habitat. Come on, Rose!”   
~~~~  
“I’ve gotta go now, remember-” Alice ran about the house, picking her purse up from the center table. I looked at her from the couch. “I know. Food’s in the fridge, water the plants every day, yada yada yada.”

Alice scowled at me, “Don’t forget about the plants.”

“I won’t, will you stop worrying?” I got off the couch and went to stand beside her. “I’m a very responsible adult and can be trusted to take care of a-” A loud crash was heard beside me and I jumped. I bit my lip as I saw what had fallen down. I looked up at Alice, a nervous smile on my face. “That was, uh, that was supposed to be happening.”

She narrowed her eyes and folded her hands. “You meant to knock down the coffee mug.” 

“Erm- yes, I did. Totally meant that. That was a carefully planned thing that was gonna happen.” I smiled nervously, and she threw her hands up in the air. 

“I haven’t even left yet and you’ve already broken something by accident-”

“It was a carefully planned-”

“Yeah right, you carefully planned to bump into a center table and break a mug. Liza, you’re worse at lying than Dylan is.” 

“Speaking of Dylan,” I clasped my hands together, slowly moving away from the table as I tried to avoid getting poked by the fragments of the mug, “Shouldn’t he be here by now?” 

She rolled her eyes and pulled her phone out of her black purse. She looked at it and said, “He’s almost here with Dan and Carol.”

“Then,” I walked toward her and pulled her shoulder with one hand and the blue suitcase with the other. She looked up at me, an eyebrow raised. I pulled her toward the door, trying my best to not bump into anything else, “You should be waiting for him downstairs! Don’t want to be late now, do you?” 

“Are you trying to kick me out?” 

“No, no, not at all, I just want you to make a good impression! First time meeting your boyfriend’s parents, you can’t be late! What will they think?” I pushed her toward the door and pushed her out, hauling the suitcase across as well. 

“Remember, the plants-”

“Need to be watered every day and the house needs to be exactly like how you left it, I know.” I held the door as she raised an eyebrow. 

“And don’t forget about the-”

“Alice, you’re gonna be gone for a couple of days, not a year, relax!” 

“But-”

“Nope, you’re going downstairs and telling Dylan that I’m bingeing Twelve without him, I’m gonna go watch TV after cleaning the mug, end of story, bye!” I closed the door and locked it. 

“Okay, but remember to water the plants!” She yelled from outside. I rolled my eyes as I heard her wheeling her suitcase away. After I was sure she was gone, I ran toward the couch and jumped on top of it. 

I laughed and flopped onto it, crossing my legs over the centre table. I reached for the remote and was about to turn on the TV when the broken mug caught my eye. Oh yeah, I’ll clean it later. 

I turned the TV on and hugged a pillow into my chest as the Doctor Who theme started playing. 

~~~~  
“Can you hurry up, please, or I’ll hit you with my shoe,” I muttered along with Peter Capaldi on the TV as I bandaged up my toe. The broken mug had finally been cleaned- after I’d suffered the consequences of forgetting that it even existed. 

After the job was done, I picked up my half eaten slice of pizza and took a bite out of it. I pulled my blanket over my feet and adjusted my position on the couch such that I was partially lying down on it, instead of having my legs on the coffee table. 

I took another bite out of my pizza as Doctor Chang showed Twelve and Clara the Dark Water. I snickered as the pool comment came through and took another bite. 

Then, a bang sounded, followed by a bunch of loud wheezing noises while a box slowly materialized behind the TV. I jumped off the couch, gaping, and ran behind the TV (well, I tripped over my blanket and had to throw that away too, but let's all conveniently forget that). No way. No way in hell. I glanced at the clock on the wall. Pretty sure this wasn't happening. 

The box materialized fully and stood before me, all blue and majestic. I slowly put a hand forward and touched it, jumping back as it vibrated with a hum. The doors opened on the other side with a squeak. 

"Okay, first, are we in the right house-" A male voice with a Northern accent. "Oh yeah, we definitely are, same picture. Liza!" 

I still stood there like an idiot, my eyes wide. It can't be- 

"Liza? Liza Cole, it's me!" 

"Doctor, maybe she isn't home, who knows? Maybe we should go back," A female voice with a Cockney accent. 

"No, but she's gotta be here- Liza!" 

I cleared my throat softly. "Um, Doctor? I'm- I'm behind the TARDIS." 

"Oh, hello!" 

I slowly walked around the TARDIS, running my hands along her. I reached the other side, only to be greeted by a grinning Nine, who was holding his sonic in one hand and a coffee mug in the other. 

"Hey," I smiled, "You're back." 

He grinned at me and nodded. "I'm the Doctor. I don't randomly leave people behind." 

I shrugged and titled my chin. "Eh, debatable." 

I looked over at Rose, who was raising an eyebrow. I smiled at her and she forced a smile at me. "Where's Alice?" 

"Nevada." 

"Nevada? Why has she gone there?" The Doctor asked. 

I shrugged, "Because she was invited to go on a trip? And also because she wanted to?" 

"But she's in no fit state to travel, she was possessed, wasn't she?" Rose folded her hands. 

"Yeah- yeah she was," I looked at the Doctor, emphasizing my next words very much, "Last year." 

Rose gasped and the Doctor’s eyes widened. "Last year? It's been a year since you last saw me?" 

I didn't respond, but still looked at him with the same expression on my face. He turned to look at Rose, who was leaning against the TARDIS and had an eyebrow raised. He turned back to me. "But I set it for twelve hours, not months!" 

I shrugged, "Well, you set it for twelve months. There's nothing that can deny that." 

Rose was glaring at him at that point. " You said you fixed it! We don't want another repeat of what Mum did to you last time!" 

He threw his hands up as I nodded. "Ah, the infamous slap from Jackie Tyler. The first time you got slapped by someone's mom." 

He frowned and shuddered at that, folding his hands. "Don't remind me." He then looked down at his hand and handed the mug to me. "Oh, here you go. Your cup." 

I took it from him and looked at it. "You've washed it." 

"Course I have, can't have any aliens running about now, can I?" 

I looked up at him, "Yeah, that's true. Anyway, you came back just to return my mug?" 

He shrugged. "Well, that and to ask you for help as to how to get out of this dimension and to ask you to travel with me and Rose." 

I coughed and stumbled, almost dropping the mug. "What?" 

"I said-" 

I held the mug up, trying to steady myself. "No, no, no, I know what you said, I'm processing it at the moment." I looked up at him as he was coming towards me, "Seriously? You actually asked me to go with you?" 

The Doctor frowned. "Yes, I did, you can if you want to, seriously. All of time and space. What do you think?" 

"Well, that escalated fast," I muttered, and looked at him. "I think I'm dreaming." 

"You're not!" 

"Well, it's 3 in the morning, you turned up after a whole year, and asked me to freaking travel with you. How do I not know that I just fell asleep while watching Series 8 for the millionth time?" 

“Because then I would’ve fallen asleep while flying the TARDIS here!” 

“Wait- am I being attacked by a Dream Crab?” I pointed at him. He frowned and Rose was leaning against the TARDIS, looking confused as ever. “Dream what?” 

“How did you get here?” I narrowed my eyes at him and Rose, taking a deep breath. 

“With the TARDIS!” He looked at me like it was the most obvious thing ever. “What happened? Dream Crabs? What do you mean, Dream Crabs?”

“I mean Dream Crabs! You know, the things that put you in a dream state while sucking your brains out!” Rose almost fell down, gaping wide. I then held up a hand, “Wait, if you’re in this dream, then you’re having it too!”

“I’m getting my brains sucked out?!” Rose stumbled and held onto the TARDIS for support. “Doctor!” 

The Doctor put his hands up, “Nobody is being attacked by a Dream Crab! Liza, this isn’t a dream!” 

“That’s what dreams say!” 

The Doctor threw his hands up. “How do I convince you that this is real?!” He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He opened them and looked at me, “Okay, do you feel a cold pain in the side of your head? Like when you eat a lot of ice cream?” 

I closed my eyes and pursed my lips together. I took a deep breath, trying to concentrate on what I was feeling. I opened my eyes again, letting out the breath. “No. At least, I don’t think so.” 

He grinned triumphantly. “See? Not a dream! And don’t think of another random excuse, I’ve just proved that it isn’t a dream!” 

“Yeah, but what if it’s a non Dream Crab dream?” 

He rolled his eyes and threw his hands up, “What is wrong with- okay,” He walked toward me and took my hand. “I’m extremely sorry.”

“For what?” 

He pulled my hand toward him. “Ow! I screamed, pulling my hand back, “You bit me!” 

“You wouldn’t have felt it if it was a dream!” He grinned, “So that means this is real!”

“You bit me! Like, you actually bit me!” 

“I just proved that you aren’t dreaming and you’re complaining that I bit you!” 

“Seriously!” I looked at my hand, which still had the bite marks on it, “Have you got alien teeth or something?! God, Amy was right!” 

“Who?”

I looked up, realising what I had just said. The Doctor looked curious, while Rose was raising an eyebrow, her hands folded. I bit my lip and swallowed, “Um, spoilers.” 

“For what?”

“That’s what Ri- someone calls your future.” Noticing his raised eyebrow, I decided to be as vague as possible. “Time traveller- you both always meet in the wrong order.” 

The Doctor nodded, folding his hands. “Makes sense. Anyway, you didn’t answer my question. All of time and space. What do you think?”

He asked me to travel with him. Me. Liza Cole. What if I ended up doing something stupid, like probably tell him something he shouldn’t know? Or what if I killed someone dear to him (cough, Rose, cough)? Or- I took a deep breath. “Why?”

“Because- do I really need a reason to have people with me in the TARDIS?” 

“You always do,” I shrugged, “And don’t try to contradict me.”

He raised an eyebrow and then sighed. “Fine! I think you’re a very nice person.”

I raised both my eyebrows, “And yet you proceeded to argue with me the whole time during the whole Kroy incident.”

He scowled at me. “You make very good points,” He muttered, then looked up at me, “Do we really have to do this?”

“You’ve met me once. How in the name of sanity would you be able to determine whether I’m a good companion or not?” For all you know, I could be worse than Adam Mitchell- and I’m pretty sure that I am. 

“I met Rose only once before I asked her to travel with me.” He shrugged. 

“Yeah, well-” I paused. Stupid Time Lord comebacks. The Doctor grinned again, looking at my loss for words. I pointed my hand at him again, “I’m not Rose!”

The Doctor threw his hands up, “Why do you have to keep arguing with me?” 

“I don’t know, you just sprung up on me and asked me to travel with you!”

“So you started arguing with me?”

“I don’t know, what if I end up unleashing an army of Dalek-Cyberman hybrid Cerebruses onto Earth?!” 

“Alright, one, what the hell is a Dalek-Cyberman hybrid Cerebrus? And two, I’m sure you won’t do that,”

“I don’t know, I made that up, and never be sure about anything because one second you’re sure and the next, it starts raining lizards!” Great job, Liza. Quote him in front of him. What are you gonna do next? Tell him that the love of his life gets stuck in a parallel dimension?

“Liza, will you-” He took a deep breath and ran a hand down his face. “You’re brilliant and have a quick mind, and you seem to hate normal life, that’s why I want you to travel with me.”

“How do you know that I hate normal life?” He came toward me and took my mug. I frowned as he brandished it like it was the most important thing in the whole universe. 

He gestured to the mug he was holding. “It literally says, ‘Reality is a disappointment’.”

“How do you know it’s not Alice’s?”

He looked at the bottom of the mug and pointed it to me. “It says ‘Property of Liza Cole’ in bold black ink.” 

I took a deep breath as my face felt warm, and scowled, “Fine, you’re right.” 

“Er, Doctor?” I looked around at Rose, who was looking at the TV. I’d not paused the TV. My eyes widened as I ran to the couch to see what she was watching. “Why are you masquerading as a girl called Clara Oswald?”

Stupid, stupid, stupid! I grabbed the remote and turned the TV off as the Doctor raised an eyebrow at me. “Spoilers!” I threw the remote, and the Doctor caught it. 

“I regenerate into a woman. Good to know.” He muttered, and I stood up violently, “Er, I mean, that wasn’t you! Like, that really wasn’t you!”

He shrugged and leaned against the wall, “Spoilers, then.”

“Basically, yeah.” I tilted my chin and shrugged. The Doctor raised an eyebrow. “You still haven’t answered my question. If this is gonna be a running trend, please warn me beforehand.” 

“I-” I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. “I don’t know. I really want to-”

“Then why are you so hesitant?” Rose asked me. 

“It’s just- I have a whole life here, and thanks to the whole dimension thing, there’s a high chance I won’t come back, and, well-” Reality or all of time and space? I took a breath and sighed. “I don’t know, I’m-”

The Doctor nodded, looking down. “I understand. I thought you’d say this.”

“Well, I don’t know,” I laughed, looking down as well, “I want to, but then again, I don’t know if I can.”

The Doctor smiled at me, “Don’t blame yourself, I understand, I really do.”

He probably thought it was him. Stupid Liza, he’s just got back from the Time War and you go out of his way to hurt him. But- he wasn’t wrong. I did want to go. But then again, my whole family was here. I took a deep breath and looked up. “Ask me tomorrow.” 

“What?”

“I’ll need to think about it, Doctor, and I’ll need time for that, so- ask me tomorrow,” 

He smiled slightly and nodded. “Alright! I’m going to come here in twenty-four hours. Decide by then. Come on, Rose!” 

She walked toward him, from behind me, frowning slightly as she walked past me. The Doctor grinned at me before he entered the TARDIS, "See you tomorrow, Liza Cole." 

I smiled at him and stood in front of my couch as the TARDIS started to dematerialise, sending all the light things in the room flying.   
~~~~  
"Okay, so the Doctor comes to our house and asks you to travel with him, basically fulfilling your greatest wish. And you ask him to come 24 hours later! Liza, what's the matter with you?" 

I held the phone in front of me, frowning. "I told you, if I agreed, I'll have to leave you guys forever. This entire dimension. I'll never be able to come back." 

"What happened to 'If the Doctor existed and asked me to travel with him, I'd go, no questions asked'?" 

"I said that when I was twelve!" 

She raised an eyebrow, "You said that a week before I got attacked by the mirror." 

I scowled and bit my lip. "I never expected that it would actually happen, did I? Also, the whole year gave me time to think!" 

"You're just making excuses now, Liza!" Alice scowled at me, "You have two choices, all of time and space, or reality. And you're thinking of choosing reality when you always emphasize that you’d never do something as ridiculous as that!"

"That's the most rational decision! And it's also what I was sure I would pick!" 

"Then why did you ask him to come again?" Alice raised her eyebrows. She was doing her 'I have a theory and you better accept it' face. 

"I-"

"Because you knew that you wanted to go. You just procrastinated the decision." 

"I did not-" 

"Really?" She gave me a challenging look and I blinked. "Liza, like I said, two choices. You have your greatest desire at the cost of a normal life and a normal life at the cost of your greatest desire. You've got to choose eventually,"   
~~~~  
I tapped my foot on the floor, my chin resting on my purple duffel bag, which was vertically placed between my legs on the floor. I looked up at the clock. 2:30. I sighed and looked at the TV, which, surprisingly, wasn't on. The black screen had a dark version of my reflection staring back at me, slightly stretched out. 

Half an hour to go. Possibly. I’d decided, and I was going with the Doctor. I’d packed my clothes, my precious possessions, and my passport and credit card just in case. For some reason, I had the Coupling theme song stuck in my head- mainly the whole ‘Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps’ part. 

~Half an hour later~

“Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps!” I sang, rocking my head to the side each time I said the word. I looked up at the clock again. 3:00. Twenty four hours almost up- if the Doctor was right, he was supposed to be there. Unless- 

My eyes widened and I bit my lip. Stop it, Liza, you’re just overthinking something stupid. It had happened once, though, no reason why it couldn’t happen again. What if he accidentally landed years from now? I bit my lip harder and my heart rate increased slightly. My foot tapping became more rapid, and I hugged my bag tightly. I ran my hands up and down the bag, as the minutes ticked by. 3:10. 

~One hour later~

Why wasn't he here yet? Did the dematerialisation circuit default into months again? What if instead of 24 hours, I had to wait for two more years? What if- 

A thump pulled me out of my thoughts, and a smile made its way onto my face as a familiar wheezing noise sounded, a box materializing, slowly becoming opaque and fully there. 

I sighed, relief washing over me, as I slowly stood up, using my bag as a support. The door opened with a creak, and my heart beat increased, the smile on my face slowly becoming a grin. 

The Doctor poked his head out and frowned. " I think this is a different house," He muttered. 

I laughed and he turned toward me, looking a little shocked. "Did you redecorate?" 

"No, that's a different part of the house, genius- you're facing the front door," I laughed, and smirked at the scowl he had on his face. "Also, you're an hour late." 

"Least it's an hour, and not a year," He stepped out towards me. "Rose, we're in the right house!" 

She stepped out and looked at me, an unreadable expression on her face. "So you actually fixed the time thing and didn't just say it for the sake of it. That's good," 

I laughed, "Yeah, I would've been extremely mad if he turned up two years from now." 

The Doctor scowled at me, folding his hands tightly. He then seemed to notice my duffel bag. He grinned at me, "You've made your decision." 

"Yup," I said, lifting my bag from the floor and slinging it over my shoulder. "So, are we leaving now?" He nodded. 

"I have that exact bag in red," Rose said, and the Doctor grinned. I smiled at her, and she forced one back at me. 

I walked toward the TARDIS, my grin widening and my heart rate quickening. Finally, it's my turn. I looked up at the Doctor, who grinned at me. "After you." 

I grinned and kept my squeal in, barely containing my excitement as I took a deep breath and pulled the doors open. I slowly walked inside, looking around. It looked exactly like it did on TV- the same metal floor, bluish lighting, small console and coral columns. 

I gasped, half laughing, as my grin started becoming wider. I spun around, resisting the urge to jump around as much as possible, failing terribly. The Doctor and Rose had walked in by then. The Doctor looked highly amused, while Rose walked around to the console. 

"She's actually bigger on the inside!" I grinned, and the Doctor smiled back. "You already knew what to expect, Liza, why are you so surprised?" 

"I'm practically living my dream right now! She's bigger on the inside and sentient! I can't believe it!" 

The Doctor rolled his eyes playfully and walked toward the console, "You've already been here before-" 

"Yeah, but I wasn't really in the mood to admire this then!" I ran towards the console, looking at all the buttons and switches nearby. I clenched my hands into fists as I resisted the urge to press one. 

"You can leave your bag in the corridor, the TARDIS will take it to your room," The Doctor said, walking around the console. 

"My what?" I looked up at him. 

"She'll make a room for you and it'll end up there, just put your bag in the corridor." 

"Okay," I grinned, skipping toward the corridor. The TARDIS hummed and I smiled at her. "Thank you, old girl," I murmured, as I placed the bag in the corridor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey guys! Hope you're all having a great day! Happy Christmas Eve/Christmas depending on your time zone! Hope you all enjoyed the chapter- Please comment down your thoughts below and thanks so much for reading! Bye!


	5. Chapter 5

So, do you know how to get out of a parallel dimension, Liza?” I sat down on a stool I had dragged in front of the console, as the Doctor flipped a few switches on the console. Rose was standing nearby, her hands folded and her eyebrows raised at me. 

I shrugged and leaned across to see what he was doing, “I don’t know, why are you asking me?”

“You were the one who said that there was a show about me and Rose,” He looked at me like it was the most obvious thing ever.

“Yeah, so?”

“I would have visited a parallel world at some point or another and gotten out,”

“No comment, because, well,” I folded my hands and shrugged, folding my legs on the stool.

“It's in my future?” He continued pressing some buttons, and looked up at me, “It’s alright if you tell me how I got out of the dimension and not how things happened,”

I shrugged and bit my lip. I had to tell him but not tell him. Was this how River felt every time she met the Doctor? I looked at the console, frowning. “Well, you landed there by accident,”

“Okay,” He came to me and pulled me off the stool. I stumbled, and had to hold onto the console to stop myself from falling flat on my face. “Careful, I’m already clumsy as it is!”

He ignored me and pulled me in front of him. He put his hands on my shoulders and looked at me. “Okay, I want you to reconstruct the accident right now,” 

“What, and tell you some crucial information about your future and stop it from happening because you’ll be careful to not commit the accident in said future and end up jeopardising everything that would possibly happen afterward? No thanks,” I walked away and looked at the controls, as Rose scoffed, “Well, I’m glad we’ve got you,”

“Liza please? We need to go back to our universe or else your show would probably never happen!” 

I paused in front of a few controls. He did have a point, though. If we were stuck here, then there would be no Martha, no Ten, no Weeping Angels, no Silence, no Eleven, no Ponds, and no Clara. Oh, and no Twelve. I shuddered internally at the thought of that. I took a deep breath and looked at him. “Well, the accident was someone pressing a switch for 29 minutes more than needed, but I don’t know what switch,”

“Oh, brilliant, that narrows it down to four million possible switches!” Rose complained, as she walked around to stand next to the Doctor.

“Although, it's a bad idea since that switch made the time vortex disappear-” I blurted out. I heard the Doctor gasp. My eyes widened and I stopped myself in time and looked behind me. The Doctor was staring at me open-mouthed. 

“But that would’ve left us stranded in the dark dimension!”

“Spoilers, it might have, it might not have, anyway, you also mentioned that the Medusa Cascade was a place for some temporal rift thing- maybe we could go there and figure out what to do,” I laughed nervously and quickly changed the subject and went to sit down on my stool. I looked down at my hands. 

“But how did we survive?!” Rose came in front of me. 

“Rose, it happens in our future, why don’t we just go to the Medusa Cascade like she said?” The Doctor flipped a few switches and pressed a couple of buttons. "Or was there another way in that show?" 

"Well, there's always Darlig Ulv Stranden if the Medusa Cascade doesn't work," I shrugged and tilted my chin, “Although that would be the wrong dimension-” I exhaled, threw my hands up and stood up, “I don’t know, just try the Medusa Cascade or whatever and then we can see things from there!”

“Alright! Medusa Cascade, here we come!” He grinned and ran around the console, flipping a few switches as he did so. "Rose, hold that lever, and Liza, hold on to that lever beside you!" 

I reached out a hand to do so. "The one on the right!" I nodded, and reached out for a lever. 

"I meant your right, not mine!" He gestured to me and went back to pushing buttons. "But that is my right!" 

"No it isn't- are you telling me that you can't tell right and left apart?" 

"I dunno, you tell me!" I threw my hands up and folded them. My cheeks felt warm, and I tried my best to not lrt it show. 

He rolled his eyes and gestured to a blue and red lever near me, "Just hold that one, never mind what I said just now," And muttered something, which I'm pretty sure was something indicative to my usual idiocy, which I wouldn't be surprised about. I shook my head and held the lever down. "You could've just said that, you know," I looked down in an attempt to hide my absolute mortification. 

"How was I to know that you don't know the difference between right and left, what are you, eight?" He walked around, flipping some switches.

"Doctor, not all of us are as smart as you!" Rose protested from the other end of the TARDIS. "Although I'm sure that most of us can tell right and left apart," she muttered, and looked back down at the lever. I scowled at her and looked down at mine. "I have many priorities in life, and knowing the difference between direction isn't one of them,"

"Like what?" The Doctor asked from beside me. He had come there to flip another switch. "Eating beans on toast and cookies?"

"One, what kind of a combo is that, and two, I was talking about TV, and work, and avoiding society in general-" 

"I find that it's quite hard to do that," The Doctor shrugged, walking behind me to Rose. The TARDIS jolted and we lurched forward. My heart jolted and I held on to the other side of the console while still holding the lever. I shouted, and the Doctor laughed, holding onto a lever himself. 

"You're gonna have to get used to that if you're gonna be a regular, you know," Rose said smugly, shrugging, and looked at the Doctor like she was proving him a point. I frowned slightly at that and was about to come up with something, but the TARDIS jolted again, and I had to hold onto the console to avoid getting thrown to the other side of the room. The adrenaline was flooding in my head and my heart kept leaping and jolting as we were being thrown in all directions. 

"Did you seriously not consider taking lessons to drive the TARDIS, Doctor?" I shouted, as we were almost thrown toward another side again. I tightened my grip on the console. 

"Who needs lessons when I can do this?!" He yelled, grinning widely like a madman (which he was, so basically, not surprising) as he pulled a lever, "Medusa Cascade, you don't know what's hit you!" 

"Yeah, you're probably gonna have the heart attack of the millennium because this idiot decided to ram his time machine into you," I muttered, bracing for the impact as something else seemed to be hitting the TARDIS again. "Although, I did suggest this so I don't know what that says about me," 

"That you encourage the idiot, maybe?" The Doctor yelled, "Hold tight!" 

I grabbed onto the console while still trying to hold down the lever. "Doctor, what did she say?" Rose shouted from her end, holding onto the ends of the console for dear life. 

"Oh, nothing, it was just an accurate description of what may happen!" He pulled a stopper out of the console and held onto the sides, grinning maniacally, "We're in for a surprise this time! Flying straight into the heart of the Cascade!" 

"What description?!" 

"Oh nothing, I just predicted that we may die and possibly destroy the universe by doing so!" My hand started slipping from the lever. My heart started beating harder and harder against my chest, and I bit my lip as I tried to tighten my grip on the lever. 

"Don't let that lever go even if it's the last thing you do!" The Doctor pointed a finger at me as he pulled the screens toward him, "Time winds blowing extremely fast, possibly strong enough to rip apart the TARDIS," He shrugged, as if he was making a rough calculation.

"WHAT?!" Rose and I yelled. I looked at him, my eyes wide, "I swear, if I die on my first trip in the TARDIS, I will kill you in heaven! Twice!" 

"There might be a penalty for that, you know!" He held onto the screen with one hand and typed in something with his other hand. "What are you doing!" 

"Typing in space time coordinates!" 

"To where?!" Rose yelled.

"The Medusa Cascade!" 

"You mean the place we just flew into? Are you seriously trying to get us killed?!" 

"The one in our universe, Liza! And I'm very careful, you know! The chances of you dying are probably 50%," He was staring at the screens as he was blindly typing something. The TARDIS was spinning around, hitting something or the other, almost throwing us in different directions each second. 

"So we have an equal chance of dying?!" 

"What else do you expect, traveling with him?!" Rose looked up at me, an incredulous look on her face. 

"I didn't expect to die on my first trip, though!" 

The TARDIS jolted violently, and I almost lost grip on the lever and the console. Brilliant. Seventh mini heart attack in the last hour. I moved my other hand and used it to hold down the lever, losing support of my legs and almost flying backwards. The lever was the only thing that was keeping me from flying backwards and getting a brain concussion by hitting my head on the walls. I tried to calm my breaths and my heart as I was partially suspended in air, blood rushing everywhere. 

"Relax, nobody is dying!" The Doctor pushed the screen away in front of my face. The Circular Gallifreyan letters swirled past me as the TARDIS jolted for one last time before coming to a stop. "See? I told you!" 

I fell backwards and landed on the floor, breathing heavily, my heart still beating wildly, "Of all the things I imagined I would be doing on my first trip in the TARDIS, jumping dimensions was probably at the bottom of my list," I said between deep breaths. 

The Doctor, on the other hand, frowned and stared at the screens. "What the- we were supposed to be landing in France," He pulled another screen toward him. I sat up and looked at him, "What's happened?" 

He furrowed his eyebrows and looked at the doors and back at the screen again. "Why is this happening?" He pushed the screen away and looked toward the doors. He stuffed his sonic into his pocket again and started walking toward it. 

"Why is what happening?" I frowned. Was this an episode? What point of his timeline was this? He finished Aliens in London, for sure-

He ignored me and opened the doors. Rose went toward him and I slowly got up, rubbing my head. "Typical. We land right into something the Doctor isn't fond of," I muttered, and ran toward them. 

The Doctor stepped out as I reached the doors. "So what is it? What's wrong?" Rose asked. 

He stepped down from the TARDIS, her right behind him. I walked out after the two of them and took in the surroundings. Expensive carpet, glass cases full of exhibits, a high ceiling. Very familiar. I folded my hands and walked toward the Doctor. "Don't know. Some kind of signal drawing the TARDIS off course," 

"Where are we?" My eyes widened slightly as I could recognise a few elements of the place. 

"Utah," I whispered as I saw a gleam coming from one of the exhibits. No. Please, not this one. Just- please. I shivered, and the Doctor looked at me. "You're right," 

I shrugged, "Well, knowing what happens kinda helps," I forced a smile, "Okay, let's go back now," No way he was facing the Dalek. Not after what he had just done some time ago. Screw cannon, the Doctor’s emotions were much more important.

"Why?" He raised an eyebrow at me. 

"Please, let's just, we can come here later," Anything to not face this episode. He would be really mad if he found out. My breathing quickened and my heart rate threatened to increase again.

"It's an episode, it has to happen, that's what you said, right?" The Doctor said, looking at me. 

"Yeah, but I didn't expect that we'd land here of all places," I shrugged. The Doctor put an arm on my shoulder. I looked up at him, "Liza, if this is a bad one, it's fine. It should happen anyway, though, shouldn't it?" 

I nodded, looking down, "But I'm warning you, you're not gonna like it, and you're probably gonna hate me by the end of this"

He squeezed my shoulder. I looked up at his small smile, "I won't hate you, Liza. I promise." 

Rose cleared her throat and we looked at her, "Now that that's settled, when are we?" 

I had to resist rolling my eyes, even though she did ask this in the episode. The Doctor, on the other hand, seemed unfazed as he walked toward an exhibit. "2012," 

He looked around at the glass, as if looking for a switch. I folded my hands tighter, rubbing my arms up and down. "God, that's so close, I should be twenty six," 

"And I would've been seventeen," I muttered, trying to keep my mind off the Dalek, still rubbing my arms. The Doctor flicked a switch loudly (probably because of the silence), and a bunch of lights switched on, illuminating each of the display exhibits. 

"Blimey," Rose gasped, turning to look at the place, "Like a great big museum," I shrunk closer to the Doctor, who moved a little closer to me, judging my how obviously uncomfortable I was. Way to go, Liza, you've already proved that you're a horrible companion. 

"An alien museum, right, Liza?" The Doctor looked at me with an encouraging smile. 

"Isn't it obvious?" I murmured, going to look at a display case with a Judoon helmet in it. I bit my lip, shivering, even though it wasn't even the least bit cold.

'Someone's got a hobby,'' I followed the Doctor, my heart rate increasing with every step. Any minute now we get cornered by guards and taken to Van Statten. And then, the Oncoming Storm gets unleashed. "Must've spent a fortune on this. Chunks of meteorite, moon dust," He pointed at a metal disk with sections in it, "That's the mileometer from the Roswell spaceship. Turns out they were actually Alamraxens," He looked back at me, and I tried to smile. 

"That's a bit of Slitheen!" Rose pointed to a case with a Raxacoricofallapatorian hand. Any second now. I rubbed my arms even more, wincing at the coldness of my palms. "That's a Slitheen's arm! It's been stuffed!" 

I turned to the Doctor, who was staring at a Cyberman head. "Oh, look at you," 

"What is it?" Rose walked behind him along with me. I shrunk back, biting my lip harder as I shrunk more behind the Doctor. "Cyberman," I whimpered, my voice shaking. My heart was running faster than an Olympic runner, and a lump in my throat was forming. I unfolded my hands and balled them up. 

The Doctor seemed to sense my distress (not surprising, even a monkey seven hundred miles away could) as he held one of them, rubbing it in comfort. "It's alright, it isn't even alive, Liza," 

I hummed and held onto his hand tightly. He continued rubbing it. "What's a Cyberman?" 

"An old friend of mine," He tilted his chin in a very Ten- like manner, "Well, enemy. The stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit," Fifteen seconds. Twenty at most. I breathed out and whimpered. The Doctor's hand tightened around mine. 

"Is that where the signal's coming from?" 

"Nah, it's stone dead, the signal's alive. Something's reaching out. Calling for help," He raised a hand to touch the glass. 

"No, don't-" I whispered, when he touched it and the alarms went off. I let go of the Doctor's hand as Rose jumped. Soldiers armed with guns surrounded us. Here goes. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Don't cry. 

"If someone is collecting aliens, that makes you exhibit A," Rose said, and the Doctor grinned at the soldiers. I, on the other hand, wasn't so chill. I shrunk back even more, and the Doctor took my hand again, giving it a comforting squeeze. "It's okay, was this what you were so scared of?" 

"Not even close," I murmured, shrinking closer to him as we were being escorted to Van Statten's office. And then, the Oncoming Storm. 

"Well, I'm prepared for anything, then," He grinned at me and I shook my head, "Not for this," He squeezed my hand and gave me a reassuring smile. "Whatever happens, don't worry. You'll be safe," 

"It's you I'm worried about," 

"Don't be, I'll be fine,"   
~~~~  
We entered Van Statten's office as Adam was showing him the stuff he bought, including the shell shaped instrument. I took a deep breath and braced myself to face this horror, and the horror after that. My heart was beating even faster, and I clenched my hands into fists, biting the inside of my cheek. The self portrait of Statten was what caught my attention the most. Hmm, self absorbed, like in the episode. Didn't know what else to expect, though. 

"Well, do you see the tubes on the side?" Adam was gesturing to the musical instrument Van Statten was holding as the Doctor looked at him in amusement, "It must be to channel something. I think maybe fuel," 

"I really wouldn't hold it like that," The Doctor interrupted, making everyone look at him. 

"Doctor-" I said, while the curly haired lady called Diana snapped, "Shut it!" 

"Really though, that's wrong,"

"Is it dangerous?" Adam looked at the Doctor. Not as much as what we're about to face. 

"No, it just looks silly," He reached out, and guns cocked around us. I looked around and back at the Doctor, who had taken the instrument from Van Statten. "You just need to be," He stroked the instrument, and it played a note, "Delicate," He played a few more notes. This calmed my nerves a bit, but I was still freaking out. The more time that passed, the closer we were to facing the Dalek. Maybe I could try not to set it loose. Maybe-

"It's a musical instrument," While everyone was looking at it with awe, there was a sort of a lust in Van Statten's eyes. 

The Doctor continued playing it, "And it's a long way away from home," 

Van Statten reached out, "Here, let me," He grabbed it from the Doctor harshly and started playing some off key notes. 

"I did say delicate," The Doctor said, as Van Statten looked up at him, still playing it awfully, "Reacts to the smallest fingerprint. It needs precision," 

Van Statten tried again, more gently this time and finally got it. "Very good. Quite the expert," The Doctor said, smiling. 

"As are you," Van Statten looked up at the Doctor, tossing the instrument aside. The Doctor frowned at that. I looked at the instrument, trying to estimate how much more time we had till the Dalek made an appearance. "Who exactly are you?" Van Statten asked. 

"I'm the Doctor, and who are you?" 

"Like you don't know," 

"He really doesn't," I murmured, unnoticed by everyone. Ten minutes, maybe. Fifteen at most. And then, Dalek time. I dug my fingers into my palms. I should've made a better effort at trying to get the Doctor out. 

"We're hidden away with the most valuable collection of extraterrestrial artifacts in the world, and you just stumbled in by mistake," 

The Doctor grinned, "Pretty much sums me up, yeah," 

Van Statten nodded, obviously not convinced. He walked past Adam in front of us, "Question is, how did you get in?" He walked in front of us, face to face with the Doctor, "53 floors down, with your cat burglar accomplices. Quite a collector yourself, they're rather pretty," 

"I'm gonna smack you if you keep saying things like that," Rose said. 

I raised both my eyebrows at him, "Excuse me?" 

"Oh, the blonde one's English, too!"" He turned to Adam, who was fidgeting, "Hey, little Lord Fauntleroy! Got you a girlfriend. Unless you like Americans now, of course," 

I scowled at him, folding my hands. Adam looked visibly uncomfortable as Rose looked at him, an eyebrow raised, "This is Mister Henry Van Statten," 

"And who's he when he's at home?" Rose asked, seemingly ignoring the whole girlfriend comment. 

"Mister Van Statten owns the internet," 

"Don't be stupid, no one owns the internet," Rose scoffed. Almost time. I balled up my hands again. 

"Let's just keep the whole world thinking that way, right kids?" Van Statten sounded like he was lecturing a bunch of five year olds as he nodded at us while speaking. I would've definitely been much more irritated if I wasn't constantly thinking about the Dalek in the cage. 

"So you're just about an expert in everything except the things in your museum. Anything you don't understand, you lock up," 

"And you claim greater knowledge?" 

"I don't need to make claims, I know how good I am," 

"And yet, I captured you. Right next to the cage. What were you doing down there?" 

I shuddered, folding my hands and rubbing my arms. Soon. And by soon, like really soon. I took a deep breath as my heart rate started increasing again. 

"You tell me," The Doctor said, noticing the look on my face before he did so. 

"The cage contains my one living specimen," I took in a shaky breath and rubbed my arms harder. Don't cry. Don't cry. Just don't. The Doctor frowned at my expression and moved a little closer to me, and turned to Van Statten. "And what's that?" 

He looked at me again, knowing that I knew what was in there. I was tempted to tell him that it was a Dalek and that we had to run, and I almost did, "It's a-" 

"Like you don't know," Van Statten interrupted. 

"Show me," The Doctor stared at him firmly. 

"Doctor, you really don't wanna-" 

"You wanna see it?" 

"You really don't," I whispered, but the Doctor seemed to have ignored me. This was gonna screw him up so much. I sighed and took a deep breath. "I'm coming too," The words slipped out before I could even process what I had just decided. 

"Are you sure?" The Doctor turned to me, surprised, "You were freaking out the seconds ago," 

"I know what's gonna happen once you see the specimen, and I don't want you to face it alone," I whispered, and then looked at Van Statten, "I'm coming with him and that's final," 

"Goddard!" Van Statten looked at the curly redhead, "Inform the Cage we're heading down," 

"Are you sure about this, Liza, you were terrified," The Doctor whispered. 

"One hundred percent," I whispered back, as Van Statten turned to Adam. 

"You, English, look after the blonde. Go and canoodle or spoon or whatever it is you British do. And you, Doctor with no name and brunette. Come and see my pet," 

I took a deep breath, trying to calm down as the Doctor and I followed Van Statten. My heart rate kept increasing and my breathing got shallower. "Are you sure you want to do this?" The Doctor took my hand and rubbed it as we walked forward. 

"My reaction is nothing compared to what yours will be, Doctor," 

"What is in there? You think you can tell me?" 

Could I? I mean, he was gonna find out anyway, but was I allowed to tell him? Maybe if I did, we could end up going back sooner and the Dalek would never be set loose. Maybe the Doctor would kill the Dalek. Maybe everything would be settled without many deaths. "I guess," I shrugged, as we walked near the Cage, "Although, I expect you won't believe me," 

We entered the Cage, which had a bunch of people walking around. A man in an orange suit was removing his helmet. "We've tried everything. The creature had shielded itself but there's definite signs of life inside," 

"Inside? Inside what?" 

"Metal casing," I murmured, and he looked down at me, frowning. 

At that moment, the orange suit guy (I think his name was Simon something) walked toward us, "Welcome back sir, I've had to take the power down. The Metaltron is resting," 

"Metaltron?" The Doctor frowned and I shrunk closer to him. I took in another shaky breath. This was it. Most probably murder ala Dalek time. 

"Thought of it myself. Good, isn't it?" I was tempted to say no, but my nerves and the fact that Van Statten would probably throw me to the Dalek himself if I did stopped me, "Although I'd much prefer to find out it's real name," 

Simon whatever removed his gloves and handed them to the Doctor, "Here, you better put these on. The last guy that touched it burst into flames," 

I flinched and fidgeted more with my hands. Any moment now. 

The Doctor shrugged, "We won't touch it, then," 

Van Statten raised an eyebrow, "We?" 

"Yeah, me and Liza," The Doctor gestured to the two of us. 

"I never said that both of you were going in the cage," 

"I beg your pardon?" The Doctor raised his eyebrows. 

"Don't think I haven't listened to your conversations with her, Doctor, she definitely knows more than you," I shrunk back, "But she's not telling you," 

"I- I don't know what you're talking about," I tried to look as firm as possible, but Van Statten laughed. 

"Go ahead, then. Impress me," He opened the doors. 

"Oi, are you out of your mind?!" The Doctor exclaimed, "Can't you see that she's terrified of whatever is in there?" 

"So she does know what's in there," He turned to me, "So tell me, what is it?" 

I balled up my fists and swallowed the lump in my throat, "I can't," 

"And why's that?" 

"Because that's not how things are supposed to happen." 

"Supposed to happen?" Van Statten mimicked me and I stepped back a little. "I want to know how you know what's in there. Did it call for help or something?" 

"It's complicated," I took in deep breaths, trying to be as calm as possible and trying not to burst into tears at that moment. 

"Well, tell me how complicated it is when you make the Metaltron talk," Van Statten made a gesture to the soldiers, who grabbed me. I gasped as they pulled me with them to the other side of the door. "Doctor!" 

"Let her go, now!" The Doctor exclaimed, but the doors slammed shut immediately, leaving me in the dark.   
~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey guys! One small disclaimer: Liza is a person who isn't big on Canon and stuff because she cares more about the Doctor’s feelings for the time being. She will be extremely reckless at times because of this and may give away some spoilers (and it'll bite her back in the ass so much later)
> 
> Anyway, thank you so much to all the people who have read my story! It honestly means so much! Please comment your thoughts if you want to, and a very Merry Christmas/ Christmas Eve to all of you! Bye!


	6. I get the Nobel Prize for Uselessness

I breathed heavily as I stumbled, trying to keep balance. Don't cry. I swallowed the lump in my throat, my heart racing. I saw the Daleks blue eyestalk illuminating the room dimly. Maybe I could just make it talk and come to some sort of a compromise. No need of mentioning the Doctor at all. Hopefully things go well and the Oncoming Storm never needs to come out.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I let it out, opening them again. Don't cry. "I- I know what you are," I kept my distance from the Dalek, which didn't respond, as expected. "I know how you're here. Picked up your distress call," Still no response. My breaths became shallower and quicker and I balled my hands into fists.

My heart was still racing, and my palms felt wet with sweat and blood, thanks to my digging my nails into them. "T- They're all dead. I'm so sorry," My voice shook with every word and it kept lowering into a barely audible whisper. "You're- you're the last."

"You are incorrect," The yellow lights of the Daleks head lit up with every syllable. It's raspy metallic voice sent shivers down my spine and I jumped and my heart jolted, despite me knowing that it was probably going to speak.

My breaths became shakier and I backed away, "I-I I'm really sorry, I'm correct,"

"The Daleks cannot be dead,"

"T-They r-really are," I breathed in, swallowing. "I'm sorry," My voice was shaking and I shivered despite the heat.

"You are lying!"

"N-no, they're all gone," I was close to tears and my voice was shaking like crazy. I rubbed my hands on my arms, wincing at how cold they were, "So are the Time Lords. They're all dead,"

"You are lying!" It sounded more assertive and aggressive. I backed away, hitting the door.

"W-we can come to a c-c-compromise, w-we-" I swallowed again, trying to keep my voice steady.

"Request denied. You are an enemy of the Daleks, you must be destroyed!"

"N-no, you don't have to-"

"Exterminate! Exterminate!" I screamed as it pointed it's gun at me and turned around to bang on the door, "Let me out!"

The door opened at that moment, and the Doctor pushed me out and went in himself. "Doctor, what are you doing? It's gonna kill you!"

The door closed behind him before I could do anything, "Doctor!" I hit the door a couple of times, but it wouldn't budge.

I ran toward Van Statten, who was staring at the screen, fascinated. "It's talking. You made it talk,"

"Is that really the biggest of priorities now, that thing is gonna kill him!" I screamed, throwing my hands up, but he seemed to be ignoring me. "Let him out!"

The Dalek recognized the Doctor and started trying to use it's weapon on him, but it didn't work. I put my face in my hands and ran them down, sighing in relief. In all my fear of the Dalek, I'd forgotten that it had been imprisoned for 50 years, which is why it's gun didn't work.

The Doctor seemed to notice that as well. "It's not working!" He laughed maniacally and walked toward it. "Fantastic! Oh, fantastic! Powerless, look at you! The great space dustbin. How does it feel?"

"Keep back,"

He ran in front of the Dalek and stared into it's eyestalk. "Let him out of there, now," I turned to Van Statten, who was still staring at the bloody monitor in fascination.

The Doctor continued taunting the Dalek, "What for? What are you gonna do to me?" He walked around the Dalek, taunting it. I shuddered at his tone and the venom in his voice. "If you can't kill, then what are you good for, Dalek? What's the point of you? You're nothing!"

"I said, let him out, Van Statten!" Still no response. Why did nobody ever listen to me?

"What the hell are you even here for?!"

"I am waiting for orders," The Dalek said. Van Statten smiled at that and shared a glance with a repulsed Diana who was forcing a smile.

"What does that mean?"

"I am a soldier. I was bred to receive orders,"

"Don't even think about it, Van Statten," I didn't fail to notice the look on his face as the Dalek said that.

"Or what?" He finally turned to me, "You've been yakking about for the past few minutes, why should I listen to you?"

"Because the Doctor is the only chance you have of survival and you've just locked him in with the most dangerous creature in the universe!" I narrowed my eyes at him and took a deep breath, keeping my voice as steady as possible.

Statten just laughed, "That thing said that it was bred to receive orders! You think it's gonna defy the man who's been taking care of it for years?"

"It's a Dalek! It would probably rip your brains out if you order it around!" I swallowed, "Let the Doctor out, Van Statten, ot I'll make you!"

"Oh, really? What will you do then?" He taunted, raising his eyebrows.

"I'll-" I paused and swallowed. "I'll-"

"I knew it," He smirked, and turned back to the monitor. "And I'll keep the Doctor in there as long as he keeps the Dalek talking."

I ran toward the door and tried to open it. The keypad had a code which the Doctor would've probably used the sonic to crack. "Open the door, Van Statten! Doctor!" I banged on the door. I winced as I looked at the red spots on my hand, but didn't feel any pain- advantages of running on adrenaline, I guess.

At that moment, the Dalek started screaming in pain. I widened my eyes and stepped away from the door. He was electrocuting it!

"Get him out, he's ruining the metalwork!" Van Statten's men pushed me aside as they opened the door and charged in. I stumbled, pressing my hand to a wall for support, sighing.  
~~~~

"The metal's just battle armor," We walked into an elevator, me right behind the Doctor, "The real Dalek creature's inside," I shuddered, thinking about the one eyed octopus image that had almost made me puke out my popcorn the first time I saw it.

"What does it look like?" Van Statten asked, probably wanting to patent it or something. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"A nightmare. It's a mutation. The Dalek race was genetically engineered. Every single emotion was removed except hate," I shuddered even more at the thought of that. The concept of the Daleks had always been scary to me (granted, the execution was just weird half the time) and I moved closer to the Doctor, who took my hand and squeezed it gently and let go.

"Genetically engineered," Van Statten gasped in awe, "By whom?"

"By a psychopath with genius tendencies," I leaned against the elevator wall. I had to keep swallowing to make my heartbeat normal again, "I'm sure you would've loved him,"

"It's been on Earth for over 50 years. Sold at a private auction, moving from one collection to another," Diana walked around the elevator to the doorway, "Why would it be a threat now?"

"Because I'm here. How did it get to Earth?"

He looked at me specifically, even though the question was directed to anyone. Diana started answering, as I murmured, "Fell through time,"

"It fell through time. The only survivor," The Doctor murmured, after Diana finished talking.

"You talked about a war?" She turned to him.

"The Time War. The final battle between my people and the Dalek race," His voice was solemn and sad- like he was remembering. And you made him encounter a bloody Dalek. You should've dragged him back in, even if he was kicking and screaming.

"But you survived too," Van Statten looked up, his eyebrows raised.

"Don't even think about it-" I started, narrowing my eyes even more, but the Doctor interrupted me, "Not by choice,"

"This means that the Dalek isn't the only alien on Earth, Doctor. There's you and Liza,"

I raised my eyebrows and exhaled as my heart started beating faster again. What if he dissected me or something? "I'm one hundred percent human, thank you very much, and don't even think about doing what you're about to do now,"

"Okay, this one's possibly human,"

"She is human!" The Doctor yelled, wrapping his hand around my wrist gently. I looked up at him, sighing softly.

"But still, you're here, Doctor, and you're the only one of your kind in existence,"

"We have a Dalek in the Cage which is gonna be let loose any minute and this is your biggest concern?" I exclaimed, scowling at him and folding my hands.

"Do you know how much I can patent with that?"

"Do you know that you have to be alive to patent something?!"

"Liza, it's alright-"

"No it isn't! That thing is downstairs, waiting to kill us, and Van Statten here is more concerned about a stupid patent!" My head felt wibbly thanks to all the adrenaline, and I swallowed, taking in deep breaths to calm myself. At that moment, as Twelve would so eloquently put it, my body felt like a mess of chemicals.

Van Statten's soldiers raised their guns at me and I backed up a little, breathing quickly. "Shut up and cooperate, or they'll shoot,"

"Did you not hear a single word I was saying?!"

"I said, shut up or they'll shoot," The soldiers cocked their guns and the Doctor pulled me behind gently. "Liza, let it go, it's alright."

I flinched as Van Statten activated a laser on the Doctor. I was at the corner of the room with Diana as this was going on. "Stop it!"

"Two hearts! A binary vascular system. I am so going to patent this,"

"There's a creature downstairs that's about to kill everyone in this building and that's what you're concerned about?" I yelled, trying to reach Van Statten, but Diana held me back.

"He'll never listen, please, just let it go," She looked desperate, almost like she was scared of him. Which she probably was.

"And what? Live in fear like the rest of you? He's torturing my friend, not to mention that there's a killing machine that's about to kill everyone in the building!" My head was still wibbly thanks to adrenaline and I was a messier mess of chemicals, looks like.

"You know what a Dalek is, Van Statten?" I stopped ranting to listen to the Doctor, who seemed to have heard the whole common cold anecdote thing, "A Dalek is honest. It does what it was born to do for the survival of its species. That creature in the dungeon is better than you,"

"Well, in that case, I will be true to myself and continue," He walked toward the laser scan.

"No, don't!" I was about to run forward and try to stop Van Statten, but Diana held me back again.

"Listen to me! That thing downstairs is going to kill every last one of us!"

"Nothing can escape the Cage,"

"Don't do it, you've already got whatever information you need, stop it!" I yelled, as Van Statten turned the laser on. "Stop it!"

He fired the laser again as the Doctor tried to say something. "Stop doing that to him! Why is nobody listening to me?!"

Van Statten used the laser again, "Seriously, let him go! He's in pain! Also. now the Dalek is probably healed thanks to Rose, and it's gonna kill everyone!"

"Condition Red," A voice in the PA sounded.

"I told you!" I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down as Van Statten looked up.

"This is not a drill. Repeat, this is not a drill!"

"Release me if you want to live," The Doctor whispered.

After Van Statten released the Doctor and he had put some clothes on, we rushed into the elevator. "Do you know if it's killed anyone yet?"

I closed my eyes as I tried to remember. "Yeah, that guy who gave you the gloves- Simon something," I swallowed, biting my lip. If only I'd been able to do something sooner- "I'm so sorry."

"It killed Simmons," Diana pressed a button in the elevator as the door closed. Her distress was evident as she fidgeted with the hem of her skirt. Van Statten, on the other hand, looked unfazed. "Did that cause any damage to it?"

"Seriously?" The Doctor turned toward Van Statten, exasperated, "The Dalek killed someone and that's your biggest concern?"

"Right after the fact that brunette here knows what happened to Simmons despite not seeing it happen,"

"That really isn't our biggest priority right now-" I closed my eyes, sighing.

"What are you? A psychic, or an alien-"

The elevator opened to reveal Van Statten's office. The Doctor and I ran out to face the TV on the wall. Rose and Adam stood there. "You've got to keep it in that Cage,"

"Not gonna work, but it'll buy us time," I muttered beside him. He nodded as Rose ran in front of the monitor on her side. "Doctor, it's all my fault, I touched it,"

"It's still got a silver lining, though, and that's important to remember, by the way," I looked up at her and she raised an eyebrow at me as a guard ran toward the screen.

"I've sealed the compartment. It can't get out, that lock's got a billion combinations,"

"A Dalek is a genius. It can calculate a thousand billion combinations in one second flat,"

I took a deep breath to calm my racing heart. It was time. Everyone was gonna get killed soon and the Doctor was gonna blame himself. The Doctor is gonna blame himself unnecessarily because you were too stupid. You should've made much more of an effort to get him out of here.

Rose, Adam, and a bunch of soldiers went to stand in front of the door of the cage. Almost there. I looked down, trying to avoid the Doctor, who was looking at me from time to time. He's gonna get reminded of all his war trauma because of you. You should've been more careful.

"You alright?" I looked up to come face to face with the Doctor, who had momentarily looked away from the screen. The love of his life is about to potentially be killed and you're attracting attention to yourself. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." I pointed to the monitor, "You should really be concerned about Rose,"

I looked back at the monitor. The doors started opening. Brilliant. Dalek time. "All of you, run out!" I yelled, but nobody listened, as usual.

"Open fire!" Everyone started shooting the Dalek as Rose and Adam backed away. "It's not gonna work!" I yelled again, leaning in front of the monitor as Van Statten said, "Don't shoot it- I want it unharmed!"

"Rose, get out of there!" The Doctor said, staring at the monitor, although he wasn't as close to it as I was.

They continued backing away and shooting as the Dalek advanced further and further. I bit my lip as the Dalek started turning toward the monitor, swallowing.

"DeMaggio, take the civilians and get them out alive. That is your job, got that?" The male soldier continued shooting at the Dalek as DeMaggio led Rose and Adam away.

The Dalek came in front of the monitor and pointed it's suction at it. I quickly backed away as the screen went black and the Dalek started downloading. "Go to the computer!"

Diana and I ran to the computer. She started it up and started typing, and a map of the US was seen. The Doctor and Van Statten soon came behind us. "We're losing power, it's draining the base." A map of Utah appeared with a small map of the US. "Oh my God, it's draining the entire power supplies of Utah,"

"It's downloading," I murmured, as Diana clicked on the map of the US. "She's right," the Doctor said from behind me. I tried to take deeper breaths as the adrenaline started to rush to my head again

"Downloading what?" Van Statten asked. I took another deep breath as Diana's eyes widened, "Sir! The entire West Coast has gone down!"

"It's not just energy. That Dalek just absorbed the internet. It knows everything,"

I turned toward the Doctor, eyes wide in fear. "What's it doing?"

"Finding out your weaknesses," The Doctor said and I turned back to the computer. It was all my fault. I should've tried to do something useful for once. The Doctor was probably mad at me now. Really mad.

"The cameras in the vault have gone down," Diana turned to us. "We only have emergency power now," I leaned in front of the computer.

"It's eaten everything else. You've got to kill it now!" The Doctor turned to Van Statten, who was reluctant.

"All guards to converge on the Metaltron cage immediately!" Diana said through the comms. I closed my eyes and swallowed the lump in my throat. They were all gonna get killed.

Diana flinched as she held onto her earpiece. "It's killing them," I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. All your fault.

Someone put a hand on my shoulder. I turned around, trying to swallow the lump in my throat, "It's not your fault," The Doctor squeezed my shoulder, " You couldn't have prevented this," I could've. If I had dragged you out of this place in time.

"Tell them to stop shooting at it!" Van Statten leaned toward Diana, who looked outraged, "But it's killing them!"

"They're dispensable. That Dalek is unique!" The Doctor turned to him slowly, and I raised my eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

"I don't want a scratch on it's bodywork, do you hear me?" He yelled. The gunshots died down and I squeezed my eyes shut. All your fault. The Doctor squeezed my shoulder gently from behind. "Can you hear me?!" Van Statten yelled again.

"They're all dead," I straightened up, and looked into the monitor. The lump in my throat threatened to burst. It's all your fault- there's no use crying about it.

Diana showed us the schematic of the base, pointing at the different places in the museum, "That's us, right below the surface. That's the cage, and that's the Dalek,"

"This museum of yours, have you got any weapons?"

"Out of reach, Doctor," I muttered, and Diana looked at me in awe for a moment before turning back to him. "She's right. We've got many, but the problem is, the Dalek is between us and them,"

"We've got to keep that thing alive," Van Statten announced. "What, and kill everyone else on Earth?" I frowned at him, trying to steady my voice. He ignored me, "We could seal the entire vault, trap it down there,"

"It can probably get out," I shrugged, and looked back at the computer, wiping the sweat from my face. The Doctor frowned at my hand, but shook it off, as I ignored him.

"And everyone gets trapped in it. Rose is down there, I won't let that happen, have you got that?" The Doctor turned to the computer and pointed at a place in the schematics, "It's got to go through this area. What's that?"

"Weapons testing,"

"Give guns to the technicians, the lawyers, anyone. Everyone. Only then you'll have a chance of killing it," Diana got off her seat to go do so as the Doctor sat down in front of the screen. "Liza, do you know what the Dalek's doing now?"

I tried to remember what was going on. Oh. I sighed and buried my face in my hands. "Who died?" I looked up at his solemn face.

"The soldier called DeMaggio. She died to let Rose and Adam escape," I leaned down next to the Doctor, trying to see what he was doing, mainly to distract myself.

"Don't blame yourself, you had no control over the situation," He continued looking through the schematic.

"I thought you were the great expert, Doctor," Van Statten turned around from the other end of the office, "If you're so impressive, why not just reason with the Dalek?"

"Daleks don't listen to reason, Van Statten," I muttered, but he ignored me again as usual.

"It must be willing to negotiate. There must be something it needs- everything needs something,"

"What's the nearest town?" The Doctor didn't look up from the computer.

"Salt Lake City,"

"Population?"

"One million,"

"All dead," The Doctor said solemnly, "If the Dalek gets out, it'll murder every creature, that's all it needs,"

"But why would it do that?!" Van Statten exclaimed, seemingly losing patience.

"Why did Hitler kill people?" I stood up, looking at him, my eyes narrowed and my voice raised, "Because they were different. Same with the Dalek. It kills us because we're different. And to a Dalek, difference equals bad,"

"It's the ultimate in racial cleansing," The Doctor stood up beside me, "And you, Van Statten, you've let it loose!"

He turned back to the comm system, "The Dalek's surrounded by a force field. The bullets are melting before they even hit home, but it's not indestructible. If you concentrate your fire, you might get through. Aim for the dome, the head, the eyepiece. That's it's weak spot,"

"Thank you Doctor, but I think I know how to fight a single tin robot," A guard said from the comm.

"Listen to him, the Dalek will kill you if you don't!" I leaned toward the comms from behind the Doctor, It had been my fault we were even dealing with this, but at least I could try to reduce the casualties, and in turn, The Doctor's guilt.

"Listen, kid, we really don't need your advice right now, this is an actual crisis, if you haven't noticed." The guard said, and I gritted my teeth, "Go play with your phone or something. You all, positions!"

"Why don't they ever listen!" I threw my hands in the air and sat down on the table, ignoring Van Statten's skeptical look as I buried my face in my hands again.

"You know, that's a question I've been asking myself ever since we got here," The Doctor muttered, still looking at the computer. He tensed as a guard asked two people to run away.

"He is talking about Rose and Adam, if you wanted to know," I swung my legs back and jumped off the table to go stand in front of the TV. If I remembered correctly, we would be getting a visual pretty soon. "They're unharmed for the time being,"

"We've got vision!" Diana said, and the Doctor stood up. I turned back to the TV screen as the Dalek was advancing toward the soldiers who were shooting at it.

"It wants us to see," The Doctor murmured, and I nodded unconsciously, transfixed on the Dalek. These people were gonna die soon, and it would all be because I didn't have the guts to get the Doctor out of the museum when we had landed. Or because I didn't make an effort to force the Dalek into a compromise somehow. I sighed and ran my hands through my hair.

The Dalek started levitating, and broke the fire alarm, turning on the sprinklers and dousing everyone in water. It lowered it's gun and shot at the firing soldiers. I wanted to look away, but I couldn't, and I hated myself for that. I stood there, staring at the screen, a couple of tears trailing down my cheek. I should've been more assertive. I should've been able to control the situation more.

I quickly wiped my tears and made my way to the Doctor, who was behind me, "It's not your fault, Doctor, it's mine," I muttered. He seemed to ignore me as Van Statten cleared his throat awkwardly. "Perhaps it's time for a new strategy. Maybe we should consider abandoning this place,"

"Except there's no power to the helipad, sir," Diana sounded like she was trying her best to suppress her anger, "We can't get out,"

"You said we could seal the vault," The Doctor turned toward Diana, pulling me back toward him.

"It was designed to be a bunker on the event of a nuclear war," Van Statten walked toward the computer and sat in front of it, "Steel bulkheads,"

"There's not enough power, those bulkheads are massive," Diana said.

"But we've got emergency power. We can re-route that to the bulkhead doors,"

"But won't it get out?" I looked up at the Doctor, who shrugged, "Mostly not, she said they were massive,"

"But a Dalek can burst through titanium, Doctor, are you sure?"

"We can only hope for the best, Liza," He shrugged.

"We can't reroute it, we'll have to bypass the security codes, that would take a computer genius," Diana protested.

"Good thing you've got me, then," Van Statten was typing some codes on the computer.

"You wanna help?" The Doctor looked at Van Statten incredulously.

"I don't wanna die, Doctor, simple as that," I looked up at the TV, which turned on again, revealing the Dalek, "And nobody knows this software better than me," Van Statten muttered.

"Sir?" The Doctor and Van Statten looked at the screen to see the Dalek.

"I shall speak only to the Doctor," The Dalek moved towards the screen. The Doctor straightened up, "You're gonna get rusty,"

"I fed off the DNA of Rose Tyler. Extrapolating the biomass of a time traveller regenerated me,"

"Keep that in mind, though, that's very important, like I said before," The Doctor turned around to look at me and nodded uncertainly. Of course. He didn't trust me. At this rate, who would? A normal person who knew what was gonna happen would try to prevent all these deaths. I, on the other hand, was a loathsome psychopath. The Master would be proud.

"What's your next trick?" He asked the Daleks in a low voice.

"I have been searching for the Daleks,"

"Yeah, I saw," The Doctor walked toward the TV screen, "Downloading the internet. What did you find?"

"I scanned your satellites and radio telescopes,"

"And?"

"Nothing," The Dalek sounded genuinely panicked. Rose's DNA was having a good effect on it. Good. At least something good was happening. "Where will I get my orders now?"

"You're just a soldier without commands,"

"Then I shall follow the Primary Order," I stiffened and put a hand on the table. "The Dalek instinct to destroy, to conquer!"

"What for?" The Doctor exclaimed, "What's the point? Don't you see? It's all gone. Everything you were, everything you stood for,"

"Then what should I do?" Fear, definitely fear. Thank God, at least this was going according to how I wanted it to.

The Doctor didn't seem to notice the Dalek having an emotion. "All right then. If you want orders, follow this one. Kill yourself,"

"The Daleks must survive!"

"The Daleks have failed!" The Doctor's voice kept getting louder, and I backed into the table as he walked toward the TV, "Why don't you finish the job and make the Daleks extinct! Rid the world of your filth. Why don't you just DIE?!"

He was leaning toward the screen, just a few inches apart. "You would make a good Dalek," The screen went blank.

There was a moment of silence around the room as Diana and Van Statten stared at the Doctor. I stared at the floor, biting my lip. "Seal the vaults," The Doctor ordered, pretending that the Dalek hadn't said that.

The Doctor ran toward the computer and sat at the other end of the table, typing on the other keyboard. Van Statten's hands flew across the keyboard, and I hated myself for this, but I was in awe of how fast the man could work. Yet another person who's more useful than I am. How brilliant. "I can leech power from the ground defenses, feed it to the bulkheads. It's been years since I've had to work this fast,"

I pulled my phone from my pocket, deciding to call Rose. Thank God the Doctor soniced my phone before we got here. At least I could try to do something useful and prevent the Doctor from thinking he had lost her.

"Are you enjoying this?" The Doctor scowled at him.

"Doctor, she's still down there," Diana looked at him solemnly.

"I'm on it," I muttered as I dialled the number the Doctor had saved in my phone. She picked up the phone, "This isn't the best time,"

"We're sealing the vaults at level 46, I know you've got three floors, just please, run. And be fast," I said. "I'm sorry, we can't help you. I really am," I looked at the Doctor, who didn't seem to notice. Well, I could try to apologise later if he didn't hate me by then.

I could hear the Dalek advancing on them as I handed the phone to the Doctor, who grabbed it from me.

"Done it," Van Statten said triumphantly, smirking, "We've got power to the bulkheads,"

Diana pointed at the schematics, "That Dalek's right behind them,"

"Rose, please run faster, we're gonna have to close the bulkheads soon," I yelled.

"Doctor, I can't sustain the power, the system is failing,"

"Is there any way to make the system not fail? Like seriously, we could use that so much right now!" I ran a hand through my hair. If Rose 'died', the Doctor would end up hating himself more than usual, and nobody wants that.

"Do you really think I would be saying that if there was one?!"

"Well, why don't you look harder, then?!" I ran my hands through my hair and sat down, sighing. Rose was gonna get trapped in the vault and the Doctor was going to blame himself again.

"You need to close the bulkheads," Van Statten said. I looked up from my hands at the Doctor, who looked conflicted. He took a deep breath, "I'm sorry," He whispered, and pressed 'Enter'.

I took in a deep breath, hoping that Rose would make it and things wouldn't go like they did in the show. Please tell me she went through. Let the Dalek be trapped in the vault for eternity and nuke it or something.

"The vault is sealed," Van Statten muttered, and I straightened up, taking in a deep breath. The Doctor stood up immediately and put my phone in his ear, "Rose! Where are you? Rose, did you make it?"

I couldn't hear what she was saying, but the look on the Doctor's face sold everything. She didn't make it. "No," I knew what was gonna happen. I knew that she was still alive, but seeing the Doctor like this- I'd only been his friend (if you can call it that) for a while, but I didn't want him to blame himself for everything. Especially this one. He had so much guilt to deal with after the Time War and Rose was the only person keeping him sane. I couldn't imagine the pain he was feeling when he thought he had lost her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey guys! A few notes first: Liza hates it when the Doctor hates himself, and tries to prevent that from happening even though she knows the outcomes (she's kinda stupid that way) and she has watched a few episodes only once, which is why she would forget a lot of things that were happening but remember the grand scheme of things.
> 
> Now that that's settled, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! Thank you so much to everyone who has followed/favourited this story, it means so much! Have a wonderful day/night! Bye!


	7. Spoilers revealed- well, not exactly

“I killed her,” He whispered. He sounded devastated- as he should’ve. He probably hated me at that moment. He probably loathed me for not trying to prevent this. Hell, even I was mad at myself. I really should’ve done something other than just sitting around. It’s all your fault. 

“I’m sorry,” Van Statten whispered. 

The Doctor turned around, a cold expression on his face. I shrunk back as I looked at him. “I said I'd protect her. She was only here because of me, and you're sorry? I could've killed that Dalek in it's cell, but you stopped me,”

I winced at the pain in his voice. He was angry, heartbroken, and traumatised- and here I was, knowing that Rose wasn’t dead, but I wasn’t doing anything about it. I could tell him, but that would probably be spoilers or something. But- he’ll know about it soon anyway- it wouldn’t matter if I told him, would it? 

“It was the prize of my collection!” 

The Doctor’s anger increased at that, and his tone scared me, “Your collection? But was it worth it? Worth all those men's deaths? Worth Rose? Let me tell you something, Van Statten. Mankind goes into space to explore, to be part of something greater.” I bit my lip, trying to hide myself and trying to seem as unnoticed as possible. 

I took a deep breath. I was telling him. He’d know a few seconds before he would in the show- there won’t be any difference, “Doctor,” I whispered, but Van Statten drowned me out, “Exactly! I wanted to touch the stars!” 

“You just want to drag the stars down and stick them underground, underneath tons of sand and dirt, and label them. You're about as far from the stars as you can get!” He paused for a moment, like he was realising something, “And you took her down with you. She was nineteen years old,”

“Doctor, will you-” My voice was softer than a whisper. I wanted to tell him- I took another breath as I tried to calm my racing heart.

At that moment, the elevator doors opened and Adam entered the room. The Doctor turned away from Van Statten and walked toward Adam, “You were quick on your feet, leaving Rose behind!”

“I’m not the one who sealed the vault!” He defended. I took a deep breath and cleared my throat, “Doctor,” I was a little louder this time. He turned around to me, the same hard expression on his face. Fair enough- he had every right to blame me. I clenched my hands into fists and bit my lip harder. 

“And you! Going on and on calling me and seeking attention when Rose was dead and doing absolutely nothing about it!” I swallowed the lump in my throat which was forming. He wasn’t lying, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt, “You knew what was gonna happen didn’t you, and you didn’t tell me! Now what do you have to say? That it isn’t my fault?”

Fair enough- that was exactly what I wanted to say apart from that one spoiler. Tell him. I took a deep breath and was about to clear my throat when Van Statten turned to me. “You know? This whole thing is your fault anyway! You should’ve stopped all this from happening since you know the future or whatever.” 

“Will you both stop assuming things and listen to me for one minute?!” I stood up and glared at the Doctor, trying to push down the tears as much as possible. “I was trying to tell you that the Dalek didn’t kill her! Rose is alive!” 

“How can she be alive, a Dalek never misses its target! Are you just trying to tell me this to calm me down because it isn't working!” The Doctor threw his hands up and glared at me. 

“Were you even listening to me when I told you to remember something?! The Dalek has Rose’s DNA in it! It’s part human, work it out! You were supposed to be smart, for God’s sake!” I ran a hand through my hair and turned around, biting my lip hard. I didn’t care. I honestly didn’t care about what he was thinking at that moment. He probably hated me, and that was justified. But I told him. That's all that mattered. 

I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath as the Dalek turned on the monitor again. “Open the bulkhead or Rose Tyler dies,” I let out a huge breath and turned to the Doctor, hoping I wasn’t crying as I gave him an I-told-you-so look. 

He didn’t seem to notice yet again, as he stared at Rose in relief, “You’re alive!” A relieved smile hit his face immediately and his anger seemed to have dissipated. He turned to me, his grin faltering a little, “You were right,”

I shrugged, swallowed, and turned toward Rose, who was frowning at the two of us. She then smiled again at the Doctor, “Can’t get rid of me,”

“I thought you were dead,”

“Open the bulkhead,” The Dalek interrupted their conversation. I folded my hands tightly and bit my lip. I knew what was gonna happen. Might as well tell him, or make him work it out on his own. 

“Don’t do it!” Rose protested. 

“Do it!” I turned to him, trying to be as emotionless as possible. I knew what that probably meant to him, and I wanted to tell him what would happen next. “Remember what I told you!”

“What use are emotions when you cannot save the woman you love?” 

He hesitated for a few moments and turned around, “I killed her once. I can’t do it again,” 

He went back to the computer and pressed ‘Enter’ again, opening the bulkhead. Rose and the Dalek walked through. I continued watching the monitor, which showed us the empty corridor, as Van Statten started walking around in a huff, “What do we do now, you bleeding heart? What the hell do we do?!” 

“Kill it when it gets here!” Adam exclaimed like it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

“All the guns are useless, and the alien weapons are in the vault,” Diana slammed her hands on the desk. 

I was tempted to yell that we didn’t need weapons, but the Doctor had just told me that I was seeking attention and I really didn’t want to repeat myself and make him hate me even more. 

“Only the catalogued ones,” Adam said, and Van Statten turned to him, raising his eyebrows. As much of an idiot he was, Adam did indirectly save the day. I smiled slightly at him, but as usual, he didn't notice. 

“What does that mean?” The Doctor exclaimed. 

“Come with me,” Adam said, and ran into the elevator. The Doctor ran behind him into the elevator. I stayed back with Diana and Van Statten, knowing that I wasn’t needed for this. I went to the table and sat down, waiting for the Dalek to arrive. I took a deep breath. It was gonna be after Van Statten, not me. I told myself, biting my lip and jiggling my foot. 

A few moments of silence later, it came in as the elevators opened. “Don’t do anything,” Rose said from behind it, “It’s beginning to question itself,”

I cupped my chin in my hands and looked at what was going on, inhaling sharply. The Dalek advanced toward Van Statten, who was pale with fear, “Van Statten. You tortured me. Why?” 

He backed away and bumped into the table, breathing heavily, “I wanted to help you. I just- I don’t know. I was trying to help. I thought if we could get through to you, if we could mend you. I wanted you better. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! I swear, I just wanted you to talk!” He stuttered, and continued breathing heavily. 

“Then hear me talk now,” The Dalek advanced toward him, and he started hyperventilating. “Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!” 

“Don’t do it!” Rose stopped the Dalek, who listened to her, “You don't have to do this anymore. There must be something else, not just killing. What else is there? What do you want?”

The Dalek turned it's eyestalk to her, “I want- freedom,” 

“Then go with her,” I got up as the Dalek faced me. Even though I knew it was a little more empathetic and that I wasn't really it's biggest concern, my heart rate increased again. "S- She-She’ll show you what freedom feels like." I pressed my hands to the table, biting my lip harder, leaning back slightly. 

The Dalek turned to Rose, almost as if asking for her confirmation. Rose turned to me, and I nodded, “Yeah, I will. Why don’t we get out of here?” 

The Dalek turned around and followed Rose into the elevator. Van Statten loosened up and sighed in relief. “That was close, wasn’t it?”

“For you, maybe,” I shrugged, sighing. The Doctor was probably looking for me now. I took a deep breath. What if I got chucked out Adam- style? What if he hated me so much that he didn't want me to stay? “I’ve gotta go, and remember what I told you about fear, Diana,” I walked toward the exit, putting my hands in my pocket, pushing all the thoughts away. I tried my best to concentrate and remember the way we came in, and thankfully didn’t get lost. I wondered if the Doctor still wanted to travel with me. 

I walked across the paths full of exhibits of aliens I could and couldn’t recognise. I saw a Cyber blaster (probably from the Battle of Canary Wharf), a Mire helmet, and an instrument that looked a lot like the one the Doctor had played earlier. 

“There you are!” I jumped, and relaxed as it was just the Doctor who was waving at me from the end of the corridor. “I thought you were lost!” 

“I’m not,” I took my hands out of my pockets and shrugged. 

He grinned at that as I walked toward him. “I know you’re not, that’s why I’m saying that I thought you were!” 

He then caught me off guard completely by throwing his arms around me. I awkwardly hugged him back, “I’m sorry for lashing out,”

I pulled back and smiled, “No, I’m sorry,” He raised an eyebrow at me, “I should’ve been more- I don’t know, it’s not your fault,” 

I put my hands in my pockets and he looked at me, his eyebrow still raised. "You should've been more what?" 

I shrugged, looking away, concentrating on the glass case with the Raxacoricofallapatorian hand. "I dunno, I just- it's complicated." 

"Says you to the definition of complicated." 

I looked up at him, forcing a smile, "Seriously, I'm fine- nothing's wrong," 

He frowned at that, but seemed to have decided to give it up. “Alright then,” He grinned at me and turned around, “To the TARDIS!” 

“So you’re okay with me still travelling with you?” 

He looked back at me incredulously, “Of course I am, why would I not be okay with having you around?!” 

I shrugged, “I don’t know, I was just asking,” 

He shook his head and walked forward, rummaging through his pockets, “You’re strange,” 

“Thank you,” I smiled, putting my hands into my pockets as well. We reached the TARDIS, and he patted it, “Little piece of home. Better than nothing,” 

“Is that the end of it, the Time War?” Rose asked. 

“I’m the only one left. I win,” He turned to us, “How about that?”

“The Dalek survived. Maybe some of your people did too,” Yes. They did. They're gonna attempt to kill you. And torture you in a confession dial for 4.5 billion years. Basically, a little more than an average Thursday for you, I guess. Or maybe not. 

“I’d know. In here,” He tapped his head, “It feels like there’s no one,” Because they're in a pocket dimension thing. 

“Well, it’s a good thing Rose and I are staying, then,” I sighed, and rocked on my toes and heels, my hands still in my pockets. 

“Yeah,” He smiled at me and her. At that moment, Adam came running behind to us. “Well,” I sighed, “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m tired,” 

The Doctor rummaged through his pockets and gave something to me. “Here you go, you can go and rest now,” 

It was a TARDIS key. An actual TARDIS key. I took it slowly, and grinned at him, “Oh my God, I’ve always wanted one of these- thanks,” I smiled at him, and he returned it. I opened the TARDIS doors, yawning, as Adam talked to the Doctor and Rose.  
~~~~  
Adam was officially a member of the TARDIS team. The Doctor was working on fixing the TARDIS (for about the millionth time), while Rose decided to show Adam around. “So, anyway, I’m going to bed, I guess,” I yawned, and the Doctor looked up from whatever he was fixing, and smiled at me, “Adventures are tiring,” 

“Well, you better go and get some sleep, then,” 

“Yeah, but where? It’s not like the TARDIS just conjures up rooms out of thin air or something,” 

He looked up again, a wide grin on his face, “Well, I’m afraid that’s exactly what she does,”

I laughed, putting my hand on the edge of the console, “Seriously?” 

“Yeah, just go through the corridors until you find a room with your name on the door,” He pointed to the corridors. I laughed and nodded. “Okay, then,” I yawned again, and turned toward the corridor, “Good night, Doctor,”

“We’re in a time machine! There’s no concept of day and night here!” He exclaimed from behind me. I shook my head and laughed, “Yeah, ok,”

I walked into the blue-lit corridors and stared at all the doors. Sarah Jane Smith, Susan Foreman, Barbara Wright, Vicki Pallister- all the rooms of the companions were there, shut. Their names were written in an elegant cursive (or a messy scribble- the TARDIS really seemed to love decorating based on people's personalities) on colourful plaques. 

I wondered if the Doctor knew that these still were there- or if he ever went in there after they had left. I ran my hand on Barbara’s plaque- one of his very first companions from such a long time ago. When he still called her a ship and kidnapped two teachers and took them to caveman times and to Skaro. The TARDIS hummed as I felt the cursive carvings that spelled out 'Barbara Wright', and I smiled at her. “You’re not just a sentient box that travels through time and space, are you? You’re a box of memories,” I pulled my hand off and decided to move forward. "Or you're just a friendly version of Dedalus's labyrinth." 

There were more names on the doors of different companions. At one point, I even saw a door with a name written in High Gallifreyan, and below that, ‘The Master’ in tiny slanted cursive. I gasped softly at that. Did the Master travel with the Doctor at some point- or did the TARDIS make a room for the Master if they ever wanted to come? 

I made a note to explore the TARDIS one day- I knew she was bigger on the inside, but I always wanted to see how much bigger she was on the inside. Did the Doctor visit every part of her? Did he even know his way around? Was she constantly expanding? 

I ran a hand across her walls as I walked by, till a door in my right opened. I walked to the door, and saw my name on a black coloured plaque, written in silver. “Thank you,” I whispered as I got in and closed the door behind me.

There was a bed aligned to the wall, which could be pushed into the wall for more space. The wooden table on the right had a computer on it, and the whole floor was covered with a fluffy black carpet. There was a closet near a door which I assumed was the bathroom, and there was a bookshelf beside my bed. The walls were purple and black, and there was a small window with the curtains closed. The room was more on the snug side and not very huge, which I loved.

I ran across the carpet to the bed (which was down at that moment) and threw myself on it. The TARDIS hummed disapprovingly and opened the doors of the bathroom and closet. “Seriously?” I whined, “I don’t wanna!” 

The TARDIS hummed disapprovingly again and turned off the lights in my room. I jumped, as my computer turned on, only to have the picture of a Vashta Nerada skeleton thing on it. “Aah! You know that that thing is real in this world, right? Turn it off and turn on the lights!” 

The TARDIS hummed again like she was asking me something. “Okay, I’ll go take a shower, now turn the lights on and the computer off!” I slid off the bed reluctantly and went to the closet. She turned on the lights and hummed happily. 

I looked up and scowled at her, “Not funny,” I turned back to the closet and saw my passport and credit card in there. “Thanks, though,” 

She hummed again. “I swear, you’re acting like my mom now,” I shook my head and pulled out a pair of shorts and a t- shirt.


	8. Greetings, Least Favourite Episode!

“So, Doctor, where are we going?” I leaned against the console, attempting to look at the screens. He moved them away and frowned at me, “It’s a surprise!” 

I raised an eyebrow, “Really?” 

“Okay, I’ve set the coordinates to random,” He looked at the screens. I laughed, “That’s the best type of trip, then,”

“Don’t tell Rose and her boyfriend that, though,” He pointed a finger at me sternly. I rolled my eyes and looked at the console, “With the TARDIS and you mothering me all the time, this is practically a repeat of my childhood,” 

“I’m not-” He sighed and looked down at the console. I moved a hand toward a random switch, and he jumped up, holding out his hand, “Nope. No way. You’re not touching that,”

“And you claim to say that you’re not acting like my mom,” I shrugged and went around the console to peek at what the Doctor was doing as he was muttering something. “What’s that?” He pulled the screen away from me and scowled, “You’re not supposed to see that!”

“Why, is it your secret diary?” 

“I don’t have a secret diary! It’s something I’m working on for later!”

“Is it a signal for distress calls?” I leaned over to peek, but he pulled it away again, “Ooh, can we answer one? I’ve always wanted to answer distress calls and save people- also, I may have an unhealthy obsession with base under siege,” 

“Base under what? And we just answered a distress call!”

“Yeah, but that was sent by the thing that wanted to kill us. Totally different,” I chased him around the console, trying to see what was the thing he had, but he kept moving the screen around. "And why are you hiding the screen?" 

“What are the two of you doing?” I looked toward the corridor. Rose and Adam were standing there, looking extremely weirded out. Well, Rose. Adam looked like he was still trying to comprehend the fact that the TARDIS was bigger on the inside and travelled through time and space. Which he was. 

“He has a secret diary and I’m trying to read it,” 

“It’s not a secret diary!” He scowled at me. 

“Then why are you hiding it?” I turned to him, “Does that have something illegal in there? Is it an ancient text that can freeze time and burn a solar system?”

He rolled his eyes and sighed. “No, it’s a-” He seemed to notice Adam, who was looking around the TARDIS with his eyes wide, “Adam, how are you today?” 

“Idiot, you changed the topic,” I muttered, and went to look at the console. The Doctor held up a hand behind him, “Don’t even think of touching anything,”

“I’m just looking at what they do!” I looked up at him, scowling. 

“Alright then, Adam, what do you think of the time machine?” 

“Er- we’ve never even travelled through time yet?” Adam looked constipated as he hid behind Rose, who scowled at the Doctor, “You’re scaring him, and Liza is going to look at your secret diary,”

The Doctor whirled around. I was looking at Rose and tried to raise an eyebrow (basically, I held one down because raising eyebrows is hard), which made the Doctor laugh. “Thanks for blaming me for something I didn’t do,” I scowled at her, and she stuck out her tongue.

“I swear the two fo you are like five year olds,” The Doctor muttered, and came toward the console. “Rose, Pretty Boy, help me,”

“And what do I do? Stand around while you take us to a mystery location which could very much be a planet full of carnivorous pears-”

“One, if there was such a planet, I would get out immediately, and two, you’re already here, why should I call you to help?!”

“Makes sense,” I shrugged, “Well, ish- Anyway, what should I do?” 

“Hold down the blue lever and flip the orange switches,” He pushed the screen away and held onto a couple of levers. “Adam, hold down the lever to your right, will you?”

“Orange switches,” I flipped the five orange switches, which made us lurch forward. I grabbed onto the edge of the console as I pulled the blue lever down. “Was that something that helps in increasing speed or something?!” 

“Are we gonna die?!” Adam yelled from his end as he held onto a lever. 

“I wouldn’t go as far as that!” Rose flipped a few switches which the Doctor had shown her. “So where are we going?”

“I don’t know, that Doctor said it would be a surprise!” He smiled at me and pulled something from the console, “Almost there, just a bit of a steep ride,”

I had to hold on to the lever and the console as I got pushed downwards, headfirst, the TARDIS tipping sideways. “A bit of a steep ride?!” 

“I’m gonna die!” Adam yelled, clinging to the console for dear life as the Doctor and Rose laughed maniacally. “Maybe not die, I guess you’ll be thrown across, so hold on tight?” 

“That reassured me a lot, thanks Liza!”

“You know it’s extremely hard to concentrate when you’re plummeting downward with two hyenas, isn't it?!” I scowled at the Doctor and Rose. 

“Oi, who are you calling a hyena?” The Doctor stopped laughing and scowled at me. Rose laughed harder at that. The TARDIS then did an entire 180. “How did this thing even become a rollercoaster, I swear-” I hugged the console (literally) to prevent myself from being thrown around and possibly ending up inside a round thing with a bunch of broken bones. 

Adam yelled in a high pitched voice, while Rose and the Doctor yelled maniacally, laughing. I felt the controls digging into me as I hugged the console tighter, the blood rushing into my head. The TARDIS slowed down eventually, and came to a stop. I immediately let go and fell back, sighing as the blood slowly flowed down and the whole TARDIS stopped spinning. 

The Doctor and Rose continued laughing as I got up slowly, taking deep breaths to calm myself down. I sat up and held onto the console, feeling a little dizzy. “I think I’m gonna be sick,” Adam said, and ran into the corridor. 

“Do you think he’ll be able to find the bathroom?” I stood up, using the console as a support for my shaky legs. 

“Fourth door to the right!” Rose yelled to Adam, who ran down the corridor. I clutched my head and scowled at the Doctor, who had gotten up nonchalantly and was dusting his coat. “Did you seriously have to traumatise Adam on his first trip?”

He looked up at me, “Oi! It’s not my fault he’s got a weak stomach!” I glared at him and my head started throbbing slightly. 

“I’ll be back too,” I muttered, clutching my head, “I’ll go get some water or something for myself,”  
~~~~  
I stumbled out of the TARDIS, feeling a bit better. I registered in the surroundings- a dark room with weird contraptions in it, and a huge screen with a PA announcing the news. “Ah, Satellite Five,” I murmured, and the Doctor looked at his watch and then at Rose. 

“It’s the year 200,000, and this is a spaceship,”

“Station,” I placed a hand on the TARDIS and partially leaned on it. 

“Space station, yeah, and er, go and try that gate over there,” He pointed to the gate that would lead us to Satellite Five. "Is this another episode?" He turned to me.

I nodded as I adjusted my ponytail. "One I wasn't a huge fan of, actually," 

He frowned at me, "Is that supposed to be a bad thing?" I shrugged and turned to Rose, who was staring at the two of us back and forth. "Don't you have a guy to impress?" She scowled at me, folding her hands.

"200000?" She looked at the Doctor again, and he nodded. She knocked on the door, "Adam? Out you come," 

He stepped out and looked around, "Oh my God," I stepped away from the TARDIS and went to stand next to the Doctor, who was staring at the two of them intently. 

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it," 

"Where are we?" He looked around at the screens and the different things in the room. 

"Good question," Rose pretended to look around and analyze stuff, "Judging by the architecture, I'd say we're around the year 200000. If you listen," 

"Yeah,"

"Engines. We're on some sort of space station," The Doctor stared at her, smiling. I smirked and nudged him, "Somebody has a crush," 

""Shut up," He muttered, and I grinned at him, "Well, whatever you say, Mr. I'm Going To Pretend to Not Be in Love Even Though I Clearly Am," I turned toward Rose, who was complaining about the heat as the Doctor elbowed me, irritated. I grinned and nodded smugly. While I wasn't a huge fan of the whole Doctor Rose pairing, but I did love torturing people (aka my friends), so well, that happened.

"Tell you what," She turned toward the gate the Doctor had pointed at, "Lets try that gate. Come on," 

She opened the gate as we reached there and we walked up the stairs i toan observatory ish room, "Here we go," She jumped off the stairs, "And this is,- I'll let the Doctor describe it," 

"The Fourth Great Bountiful Human Empire Thing!" I jumped off the stairs, holding onto the railing. Rose scowled at me as I looked at the Doctor, "Right?" 

"Well, Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire," He put his hands into his pockets, "And there it is, planet Earth at its heights," I looked down at Earth, which didn't seem to have changed much, "What happened to the whole continental drift thing?" 

"Ah, well, you see, humans have become so clever that they can control it!" 

"We can control the way the plates move. Like, the plates of the Earth. Like the actual continents," Adam looked up at the Doctor incredulously. The Doctor nodded, smiling, "Covered with mega cities, five moons, population 96 billion. The hub of a galactic domain stretching across a million planets, a million species, with mankind right in the middle," 

Adam's eyes widened, and I giggled as he fainted behind us. The Doctor didn't look behind him at all as he deadpanned, "He's your boyfriend," 

"Not anymore," Rose said in the same way. 

I tugged on to the Doctor’s sleeve, and he looked down at me, "How did we even get five moons in the first place? And what's a mega city? Also, 96 billion? I learnt in school at we were already suffering from population explosion. If seven billion is threatening, how can 96 billion even exist?" 

He smiled at me, "Well, four of them are artificial, a mega city is a huge city that has skyscrapers in the clouds, and well for you last question, cities in the clouds. Not much population explosion. Also, there's cities underwater. Didn't they tell you this in your show?" 

"No, they usually leave those details to us," I shrugged, and Rose cleared her throat, looking extremely irritated, "Don’t we have to wake Adam? And go see the space station?" 

I frowned at her tone as the Doctor grinned, "Oh yes!" 

"Nine, your Ten is showing," I muttered, and he looked at me, his eyebrows raised, "Fandom joke," I shrugged again as he went to wake Adam up.  
~~~~  
"Come on Adam, open your mind," The Doctor had an arm around Adam as we entered the satellite, "Fantastic period of history, the human race at its most intelligent," 

"Well-" I tilted my chin and put my hands into my pockets, knowing what would happen. 

"Well what?" He raised an eyebrow at me. 

"Nothing," I shrugged, and skipped in front of him. 

"Like I was saying, this era has got fine food, good manners, the works-" 

"Out of the way!" A man snapped as he cycled past Rose. 

A bunch of shops started opening, and crowds of people started walking and pushing past me. I looked around for the Doctor, who, along with Adam, was staring at the whole place incredulously. "Oi, get out of the way!" A man yelled, and pushed me. I walked back to the Doctor, rolling my eyes, "So much for good manners," 

At that moment, Rose looked at one of the fast food stands and turned to the Doctor, "Fine cuisine," 

"My watch must be wrong," He pulled up his sleeve to look at it as I stood up on my toes to look at everything and everyone, "Nope," I said. 

"You're right, Liza. My watch is fine, that's weird," I stood back down as he frowned at me, "What's wrong with this place?" 

I shrugged, "Guess you'll have to find out," 

"That's what comes of showing off," Rose turned toward us, "Your history's not as good as you thought, "

"Oh, his history is perfectly accurate, something's wrong here," I muttered, and the Doctor looked down at me, grinning, "So I'm right and this place is all wrong," 

Adam walked around, looking at all tof the people walking around, “They’re all human. What about the millions of planets, millions of species, where are they?” 

“Good question,” The Doctor said, and looked down at me, “Actually, that is a good question,”

He paused, and looked at me. I looked up at him, my eyebrows raised, “What, were you asking me the answer?” He looked at me again like that was the most obvious thing in the whole universe. I stood up on my toes again, looking at the crowds of people in front of the food stall, “I don’t know,”

“This is an episode, you do know what happened to them!” 

I shrugged, “I told you. I hated this episode so I’ve only seen it once. I know the main stuff and what’s gonna happen but I don’t remember details like this one,” 

The Doctor frowned at that and went to Adam to put an arm around him, “Adam, my old mate, you must be starving,” 

I snorted, “Even I’m not starving and I skipped breakfast,”

“No, I’m just a bit time sick,” He said, and I nodded, “Welcome to the club, I’m sure food isn’t gonna help,”

“No, you just need a bit of grub,” The Doctor looked back at me with a glare. He then turned to the cashier at the nearest stand, “Oi, mate, how much is a kronkburger?” 

“Two credits twenty, sweetheart,” The guy said, obviously annoyed with the amount of people who were crowding his stall, “Now join the queue,” He pointed at the ever growing crowd of people he called a queue, and I backed away, “Uh, no thanks, all my appetite’s been lost,” 

He nodded at the man and turned to Adam, “Money. We need money. You coming, Liza?”

I ran behind him as we went to a future ATM thing whose name I forgot, as the Doctor took his screwdriver from his pocket, “Let’s use a cashpoint,” Ah, so that’s what those were called. 

He pointed the screwdriver at one of them and pulled out a credit stick. He gave it to Adam, “There you go, picket money! Don’t spend it all on sweets,”

“What, are you like his legal guardian or something?” He frowned at me, "Excuse me, I have a duty of care towards you all so excuse me if I act like your dad," 

"Don't ever say 'duty of care' ever again," Thinking about Hell Bent and Twelve telling that to Clara was something I didn't want. At all. Especially since that was gonna happen someday, "Like, seriously, don't," 

"Well, how does it work?" Adam stared at the credit stick. The Doctor pulled me along with him, "Go and find out, stop nagging me!" He turned to Adam and Rose, "The thing is, Adam, time travel is like visiting Paris," 

"Or literally visiting Paris in any time period," 

"Or literally visiting Paris in any time period," He nodded at me, "You can't just read the guidebook, you've got to throw yourself in. Eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double and end up kissing complete strangers. Or is that just me?" 

"Totally just you," I muttered, and rocked on my feet, avoiding eye contact with the Doctor, "It was a rhetorical question! Anyway, stop asking questions, go and do it!" Adam nodded and went toward a store. "Off you go, then. Your first date,"

Rose was laughing as she turned around, "You're gonna get a smack, you are," The Doctor smiled at her till she walked away, and then turned serious, "Alright then, let's find out what's wrong with this place. Or let me find out, since you already know what's happening," 

He shot me an accusative frown and I threw my hands up, "I can't tell you, can I? It's stuff about your future!"


	9. I Beat Adam in the Worst Companion Race

At that moment, two women, Cathica and Suki, I guess their names were, walked by. "We're gonna have to talk about what you can and can't tell me," He turned to them, "Erm, this is gonna sound daft, but can you tell us where we are?" 

Cathica pointed at a sign, "Floor 139? Could they write it any bigger?" I snickered as he looked at the huge sign on top of a wall. "Well done, Captain Missing the Obvious," He scowled at me and looked at them with a forced grin. 

"Floor 139 of what?" 

"Satellite Five," I muttered, "Sorry, I didn't know that an inspection test meant that we had to act like idiots, it's my first time," I elbowed the Doctor as discreetly as I could, and he pulled out the psychic paper, seeming to understand. 

"It's a management test and I'm your boss, I can do what I like!" He glared at me and I nodded, still uncertain. 

"Right," The two of them straightened up as they saw his credentials. And mine, maybe, if he included my name in it. 

"We were warned about this in basic training," Suki looked at Cathica, "All workers have to be well versed in company promotion," 

Cathica turned to us, looking confident and desperate to impress, "Right then, fire away. Ask your questions. If it gets me to Floor 500, I'll do anything," 

"Why, what happens on Floor 500?" 

"The walls are made of gold," She said, as if it couldn't be more obvious, "And you should know, Mr Management," She grinned at him and walked forward, "So, this is what we do," 

We walked behind her to a row of screens all broadcasting the news. Cathica read out the headlines, and I frowned as she talked about the Bad Wolf channel. One, because it was the first mention of the Bad Wolf arc for me, and second, Jack could get pregnant. Although that was something that was on a more hilarious note. "Remember Bad Wolf," I murmured to the Doctor, and he nodded, frowning. "Why?"

"It's important," I hissed back and looked back at Cathica. After Cathica finished, he turned to her, "I get it. You broadcast the news," 

Catia looked at him, almost offended, "We are the news. We're the journalists. We package it, write it and sell it. Six hundred channels all coming out of Satellite Five. Nothing happens in the whole human empire without it going through us," 

At that moment, a klaxon bell sounded and everyone jumped off their seats and went to different places to work, probably. The Doctor then turned to the chairs, where Rose and Adam were looking around, confused. "Oi, Mutt and Jeff! Over here!" He turned to Cathica and Suki, "They're my junior assistants,"

"Ooh, Mutt and Jeff is a comic that used to come in the newspaper!" I told the Doctor, grinning, as Rose and Adam looked at us. Rose immediately came to us, while Adam hesitated. Probably keeping Rose's phone with him. I frowned and reminded myself to confiscate it from him. 

"Well, she loves history, doesn't she?" The Doctor squeezed my hand, and I jumped, "Yeah?" He looked at me, concerned, "Cathica here said that nobody's used a newspaper in years, and I said you had them because you told me you love history," 

"Oh, yeah, yeah, that's right," I turned to Cathica and Suki, pretending to be unfazed, "I do love history, it's the best," 

"I do too," Cathica nodded, grinning, and I smiled at her. "Alright then," She turned toward a corridor, "I'm sure you wanna know how we work here," 

"Yeah, yeah, course we do," The Doctor grinned at her, and she smiled back. "Come on, I'll show you," Suki smiled at us awkwardly as she then went to follow Cathica, who was strutting forward already. 

Rose and Adam followed, and I walked beside them, "Hey, Rose, do you think I could borrow your phone sometime? I left mine in the TARDIS," 

"What would you need a phone for?" The Doctor caught up to us, shoving his hands into his pockets. I shrugged, "What if we need to call someone for help?" The Doctor rolled his eyes, "Yeah, we're stuck in a Satellite in the year 200,000 and the first person we call for help is Ricky the idiot," 

"His name is Mickey!" I nudged the Doctor hard, "Ricky's a whole other person. Also why did you even assume that I was gonna call him? I don't even know him that well!" The Doctor raised an eyebrow at me. "Or, well, he doesn't know me that well- you get The point, don't you?" 

At that moment, we entered a room with an octagonal thing and several people seated around a chair. I shuddered as I looked at the chair and put my hands on the railing. It was hot and I flinched, grasping. I immediately pulled them off, though, before they could start burning. Curse you, Jaguar-fez! Or whatever you're called! 

"Now, everybody behave," Cathica looked at everyone in the room as they all turned to us, "We have a management inspection," She turned to us, "How do you want it, by the book?" 

"Right from scratch, thanks," The Doctor said. 

"Okay," She turned to the people sitting down, "Ladies, gentlemen, multisex, undecided or robot- my name's Cathica Santini Khadeni," She turned to us, "That's Cathica with a C, in case you want to write to Floor 500 praising me, and please do," The Doctor and I grinned awkwardly as she turned back to them, "Now, feel free to ask any questions. The process of news gathering must be open, honest, and beyond bias," She turned to us again, a proud and confident smile on her face, "That's company policy," 

"Actually," Cathica seemed to deflate a bit as Suki, who was sitting down, piped up, "It's the law," She smiled at us shyly. I grinned back. Cathica, on the other hand, wasn't happy,

"Yes, thank you Suki," She gave her the death stare, and turned to everyone else. I frowned at that and at the expression Suki's face, which looked extremely familiar. I nodded and looked back at Cathica. "Okay, keep it calm, don't show off for the guests," She went and sat on the chair, "Here we go," She lay down, putting her hands on the armrests, "And, engage safety," 

The people around her held their palms on top of a concrete thing (the news transmitter, probably) as the lights turned on. Ah, brain time. I shuddered and moved back, not wanting to lose my breakfast. Which I had skipped. But still.

"Anything bad gonna happen now?" The Doctor leaned down toward me, "You look like you're gonna be sick," 

"Well, nothing bad, but something unsettling," Cathica clicked her fingers and I leaned back as her brain opened up. Rose and Adam leaned toward the railing, not believing what they were seeing, probably, and the Doctor remained calm, "Ah, poor you, almost losing your breakfast twice,"

"You mean the breakfast I skipped thanks to you," I muttered, scowling. 

"And three, two, and spike," A blue beam of light entered her brain. I shuddered as I moved back even more. "Uurghh,"

"Compressed information," The Doctor remarked, pulling me forward as I backed off too much, "Streaming into her. Reports from every country, every city, every planet, and they all get packaged inside her head. She becomes part of the software. Her brain is the computer," 

"If it all goes through her, she must be a genius,” Rose leaned toward Cathica. 

I shrugged, “The way you described it, I’m picturing a blaster and a robotic voice saying ‘You will be upgraded’,” The Doctor frowned at me. “Why would you even make a comparison like that?!”

I shrugged again and turned to Cathica, who was literally getting information drilled into her head. No pun intended. Maybe. “Well, I’m bananas and obsessed with Cybermen for some weird reason,” 

“Anyway, that won’t happen, because she wouldn’t remember any of it, and there's no Cybermen here unless there are and you're not telling me,” He walked around the octagon. Rose followed him and sat down in between two of the people, “There’s too much, her head would blow up,”

“That’s a cheery thought to make me lose my nonexistent breakfast for the third time today and we’ve not even met the Jaguar-fez,” I muttered, pulling my hair into a bun, scrunching up my face as I felt the sweat on my neck. "Also, I can assure you that there are no Cybermen here." The Doctor sighed and I grinned. 

“So, what about these people around the edge?” Rose squatted in front of a couple of them.

“They've all got tiny little chips in their head, connecting them to her and they transmit six hundred channels,” He walked back to Cathica, “Every single fact in the Empire beams about in this place. Now that's what I call power,” 

“Really? I call that exam preparation,” I walked beside him, “Every fact in the textbook crammed into your head the night before, only for you to forget everything right after you finish the exam because your brain will explode otherwise with all the useless information,”

“That’s true, you know,” Rose laughed from where she was. The Doctor looked at me, confused, “That’s never happened to me,”

Adam stared at Cathica, not speaking at all. Rose walked toward him as I frowned. I really had to get either Rose’s phone or the credit stick off him. “Are you alright?” 

“I can see her brain,”

“Do you wanna get out?”

“No, no, this technology is amazing,” He continued to stare at Cathica, fascinated. 

“It's also localised to this time zone, cannot emphasise that more,” I muttered, and the Doctor frowned, “This technology’s wrong,” 

Rose smiled at the Doctor, “Trouble?”

The Doctor grinned back, “Oh yeah,” I looked at all the people in the room, and frowned as Suki flinched. Oh yeah- she was some sort of an impostor! And she had to go to Floor 500= I smiled as bits of the episode started coming back to me. And frowned again because- oh no. 

If I was right then Suki would get a promotion- Suki jerked off the system, disconnecting everyone else. Cathica’s brain thing closed, and she looked at Suki, extremely irritated. “Come off it, Suki! I wasn’t even halfway, what was that for?”

Suki looked apologetic as she raised her hands, “Sorry, it must’ve been a glitch,” 

“Promotion,” A screen opened up, with the word ‘Promotion’ written on it and the Doctor frowned. I smiled as I imagined Twelve in the situation, asking why the words and audio were there at the same time. Cathica looked at the screen and started begging it to be her. 

“Promotion for Suki McRae Cantrell,” I frowned and bit my lip as another piece of the episode came back. Floor 500 was frozen- and Suki was gonna die there. “No,” I whispered, almost falling onto the railing. I had to at least try to prevent her death- especially as I’d let hundreds die when we were with the Dalek. The Doctor put a hand on my shoulder and pulled me back. "Careful." 

“I don’t believe it,” Suki got up, her face literally glowing, “Floor 500,”

“Yeah, Floor 500,” I murmured, looking down. I had to try and do something- maybe tell her it was a fake, or that Floor 500 wasn’t actually what she thought it was- or maybe that there was a jelly blob monster up there waiting to kill her. The Doctor squeezed my shoulder as I moved back, still staring at Suki. 

“How the hell did you manage that?” Cathica frowned at Suki, her jealousy and anger evident, “I’m above you!”

Suki was still staring at the screen, as she said, “I don’t know, I just applied on the off chance and they said yes,”

I shook my head and bit my lip. Cathica, on the other hand, was a different kind of annoyed, “That’s so not fair! I’ve been applying to Floor 500 for the past three years!”

“Be glad you haven’t gotten in there,” I muttered, frowning at the whole exchange. “What’s in Floor 500, though? Other than the golden walls,” I looked up at the Doctor who had asked me the question. 

“Well, that’s a spoiler, but I can guarantee that the walls are definitely not made of gold,” I muttered, looking at Cathica and Suki. I straightened up and looked at the Doctor, who was frowning at me, “Well, we better keep the act as inspectors or whatever and see her off,”

The Doctor nodded, and the four of us followed Cathica and Suki to the hall with the elevator in it. “I’m gonna miss you, Cathica,” She turned to us, smiling, “Floor 500, thank you,” 

The Doctor smiled at her as I frowned, knowing what would happen next, “I didn’t do anything,”

“Well, you’re my lucky charm,” She smiled, and he grinned at her, “Alright, I’ll hug anyone,” He hugged Suki, as I looked at Cathica, who was trying her best to suppress her anger and resentment. I shrugged at her as she stared at me, and looked over at something else. “Be careful, Suki, Floor 500’s cooler than you think,” I looked at her as she pulled away from the Doctor, “And not in the way you expect it to be. It’s so cool that it could end up becoming cold,” I shrugged, and caught the Doctor’s eyes, “Freezing cool, even,” 

She raised an eyebrow and smiled at me, probably thinking that I was telling her how awesome Floor 500 was, but the Doctor frowned at me and looked away. The elevator then came and opened. Suki looked behind, “Oh my God, I’ve got to go, I can’t keep them waiting,” She picked up her bag and ran toward the lift, “I’m sorry! Say goodbye to Steve for me!”

“Suki, remember what I said just now!” I yelled, as Suki yelled her goodbyes to us. The lift doors closed, and Suki disappeared. I took a deep breath and tugged the Doctor’s sleeve. He looked down at me, an eyebrow raised. I held my hand out, “Sonic. Now,” 

“Not until you tell me what’s going on,”

I shrugged and shook my head, “Don’t know if I can,” I looked around at the three of them, “Where’s Adam?”

“He’s at the deck, he’ll probably go back to the TARDIS for a while, why?” Rose folded her hands and frowned at me. Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no- I ran a hand through my hair and spun around, groaning, “I can’t believe it! The one thing I thought I could do!” 

The Doctor put a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him, scowling, “What?”

“What happened? You can tell me somewhat of it without revealing too much, it’s clearly stressing you out!” 

“What, and mess up your entire timeline?! No way!” 

“What are the two of you even talking about?” I whirled around to see Cathica frowning at the two of us. Brilliant. Just brilliant. I’d made things even worse than they were. “It was a, er, test, you know, for the next promotion,”

“Yeah, for the news, you know, for you to, er, broadcast,” I appreciated that the Doctor was helping me lie horribly, but the look on Cathica’s face showed that she clearly had enough. She nodded skeptically, “Well, that’s not gonna be in a while then, and I’ll have to wait for years to see Suki again because she’s been promoted earlier,”

“You’re talking like you’ll never see her again till you’re promoted, she’s only upstairs,” The Doctor folded his hands. 

“We won’t,” She looked around, avoiding our gaze, “Once you go to Floor 500 you’ll never come back,” 

“And that seriously doesn’t put you off?” I stared at her, while nudging the Doctor. 

We walked through the cafeteria. The Doctor had stopped pestering me with questions, but he was still looking at me constantly judging by how restless I had become. I was biting my lip and praying that time would go faster such that I could drag the Doctor to Floor 500 and try to prevent Suki’s death. “Have you ever been up there?” The Doctor asked Cathica. 

“No she hasn't, they never shift floors,” I muttered, pulling him along with me in a random direction, hopefully near the central heating place where we would get access to the elevator. “The elevator isn’t all access, you know, we need a key,” 

“Yeah, how did you not know that?” 

“Management test, remember?” The Doctor looked at her like it was the most obvious thing ever. Cathica rolled her eyes and sighed, “Look, they only give us twenty minutes maintenance. Will you give it a rest?” 

We were back in the octagon room, and the Doctor was sitting on the neural chair thing. “Doctor, let’s just go, we’re losing time,” I muttered. 

“For what?” He frowned at me, looking up, “Why can’t you tell me why you’re so frustrated?” 

I ran a hand through my hair and took a deep breath, “Well, I can’t tell you everything, but something is very wrong, actually, two things, and we need to get going! Also, the heating system’s horrible!” 

The Doctor frowned at me, while Cathica just looked confused. “What are you going on about? This doesn’t sound like a management test,”

“Well, happy realisation, because it isn’t!” I turned back to the Doctor, “Heating system. Massive clue. Also, if you don’t figure it out quickly, I’m seriously dragging you with me,” 

“Whatever you’re doing, don’t get me involved,” Cathica put her hands up and was about to go away. “I don’t know anything,”

“Don’t you even ask?” The Doctor looked up at her. 

“Why would I?”

“You’re a journalist,” He looked at her and then looked at me. “Let me ask you a question. Why is the entire crew human?”

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“There’s no aliens on board. Why?” He looked up at me again, expecting an answer. I scowled at the two of them, “Guys, can we please stop the interrogation and hurry up? Suki’s about to get killed now and I know I wasn’t supposed to say that but she’s gonna die and I would’ve done nothing to stop that!” I turned to Cathica, “Listen, I’m not gonna ramble but all I can say is that the Human Empire has gone all wonky and your heating problem thing is really important to solving the problem, and we need to get to Floor 500 really soon, so can we hurry up now?!” 

I looked around at the three of them, and was met with completely confused looks. “What’s the heating system to do with all this?!” 

“Well, she’s right, though, it’s boiling,” Rose complained. I looked at her and pointed a finger at her, “Exactly! Why? Let’s find out! Cathica, maintenance place thing. Doctor, get your stupid brain to work. Rose, come on!” 

“Give me one good reason as to how all this is even sane,” Cathica stared at us. I groaned into my fist, “Seriously? Now you’re asking questions? Now?!” 

The Doctor got up and put an arm around me, “Cathica, the Human Empire is 90 years backward, and this is coming from a time traveller. When did Satellite Five start broadcasting?”

Cathica froze for a second, “91 years ago,”

“Exactly, and things are gonna get worse if we don’t move it!” I pulled the Doctor’s sleeve, “Maintenance room, now!” 

I pulled the Doctor out of the room. “What is it with you and the central heating?” Cathica ran toward us while Rose frowned, “Liza, I know it's boiling, but is that really the biggest of concerns right now?” 

"Yes, because it's got everything to do with what's going on here!” I pulled the Doctor out of the room, Cathica running in front of us as she tried to catch up. 

~~~~

“We’re so gonna get in trouble,” Cathica muttered, as the Doctor soniced a monitor to get a schematic. I stood beside him, looking over at what he was doing. I was biting my lip and tapping my foot on the ground, constantly looking at the camera from where the Jaguar-fez and that other guy with the white beard were looking at us. I didn’t remember exactly what was happening, so that meant Suki could be dead or alive- but would die soon. And Adam- Oh my God, I forgot about Adam again! I was about to go and run to find him, but stopped myself

One thing at a time. Go find Adam after kicking the Doctor and Rose into the elevator. 

“You’re not allowed to touch the main frame, you’ll get told off,” 

“Rose, tell her to button it,” The Doctor continued sonicing the door. 

“You can’t just vandalise the place, someone’s gonna notice!” 

“Well, someone is noticing, actually. That’s the whole point,” I muttered, and Cathica looked at me, scandalised. 

“This has nothing to do with me, I’m going back to work,” Cathica threw her hands up and walked back. 

“Go on, then! See you!” The Doctor didn’t even bat an eyelash. 

“I can’t just leave you, can I?” She came back, obviously conflicted. I shook my head at her and looked at the Doctor again, “Hurry up, we’re losing time-”

He turned around, scowling at me, “And you! You’re just as helpful! If things are so dire, why can’t you just tell us?!”

“Because I don’t know whether I should! Everyone’s so taboo about telling people their future!” I threw my hands up and scowled at him. 

“Then why are you constantly hurrying me like this! There was nobody doing that in your show, was there?!” 

“Well, no, but there’s so much that could be avoided if you just hurried up and figured out things sooner!”

“Then why can’t you just tell me whatever’s gonna happen if you’re so hung up on avoiding things?!” 

“Because you told me not to tell you anything about the future, mainly yours!” My hands were clenched into fists, and the blood was flowing all the way to my face, making me a little dizzy. 

“Then stop giving me sneak peeks about some big bad nonsense and then not tell me any details! You did the exact same thing with Van Statten!” He turned to me and pointed the screwdriver accusingly, “Honestly, I don’t know whether to believe you or not! What if you’re just doing this for attention? You’ve been yammering on for a while now but you haven’t done anything about it!” 

A lump in my throat started forming and I turned away. I swallowed and took a deep breath. Don’t cry. I stormed away, trying to keep the tears in. “Where are you going now?” Cathica yelled behind me. 

“To do something!”

“What?”

“That’s none of your business!”

“Probably to just go and cause some more drama with everyone else since that’s all she’s good for!” The Doctor said, and probably used the sonic on something. I took another deep breath and continued to storm away, not looking back. 

I swallowed, trying to keep the tears at bay. Way to go, Liza, your own role model hates you. Of course he would, why wouldn’t he? Even I hated me. And it’s not even like it was his fault. I was an idiot who couldn’t do anything. Well, at least I was trying to fix that now- or was I?

I looked around the deck full of people to see if I could spot Adam anywhere. There were many people there- not Adam, though. I sighed and turned around to go find the lift. He was probably at the med bay. Maybe I could get him to not get brain surgery and at least try to help the Doctor in some way. 

I turned back and went toward the elevator. Please don’t tell me that- oh brilliant. Just my luck. The Doctor and Rose were entering the elevator with Cathica following. I was about to turn around and try to leave, unnoticed, but as usual, I had the worst timing in the whole of time and space. “Liza?” 

I turned back as the Doctor had already noticed me, “What are you doing here?” 

“I needed to use the elevator, but it’s alright, you really don’t need to-”

He held the elevator behind with his sonic, “You were right about the heating, we’re going to Floor 500! Come on,”

“No, it’s fine, you really don’t have to-”

“Please,” He looked at me, a little sadly, and I threw my hands up and sighed. “You know what? Fine,” He cracked a small smile at that. At least he was happy. Ish. Or at least looked happy.

I walked into the elevator, avoiding the Doctor’s gaze, and folded my hands. “Come on! Come with us!” Rose said to Cathica, who refused. 

“No way,” 

“Bye!” The Doctor said as the doors slowly started closing. 

“Don’t mention my name. When you get in trouble, don’t involve me,”

“Just make sure you use what you know when you need a solution Cathica,” I said softly, but she seemed to have heard it as she raised an eyebrow, “You’ll find that it helps a lot,”

Cathica just shook her head and walked away, and I went to lean against the wall of the elevator. “That’s her gone. Looks like Adam’s given up,” No he hasn’t, and he’s gonna cause horrible things to happen, and it’ll all be my fault. Again, “Looks like it’s just the three of us. Right, Liza?”

He looked back at me, but I looked away and stared at the wall, “Yeah, I guess,” I murmured, 

“You were right, you know,” He said, as he placed the sonic in the elevator, “About the heating system,”

“Well, I know what happens in the future,” I sighed and folded my hands again, “It would be the peak of my idiocy if I didn’t know that despite having watched the episode,”

“No it wouldn’t, you would’ve just forgotten, that’s all- there’s nothing wrong with forgetting,” He came to stand beside me. 

I scoffed and went forward, as we neared Floor 500, “Yeah, right. And I’ll become even more useless than I am,” 

~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: God, I love making them fight (I'm not sadistic I swear-maybe)! Anyway, only one more chapter and then, an original adventure! I honestly can't wait for that!


	10. Almost Death By Newspaper Editor

The doors opened at that moment, and the Doctor walked out, Rose following him. I walked out last and put my hands in my pockets as I looked around, folding my hands. Everything was covered in ice and snow- the wires, the machines, the floors, the walls- I shivered and put my hands into my pockets again, shrugging as I tried to keep warm. It was mildly dark and I had to squint to see everything properly and I shivered. 

“The walls are not made of gold,” The Doctor looked behind at me, “‘Floor 500’s cooler than you think’- good clue, should’ve picked up on that earlier, especially pairing up with the heating vent thing you were ranting about,”

I shrugged and looked around, as he said, “You both should go downstairs,” 

“And what? Leave you here?” I retorted. 

“Tough,” Rose said, as we walked toward him. She went ahead, as the Doctor looked around at the landscape. I followed Rose through the icicles and frozen wire, shivering. 

We walked till we found the snow king guy and his ice coated dead army. Oh, and of course, the Jaguar-fez. I shuddered at the dead people who were working. I craned my neck to see the end. Of course. Suki was there. All that arguing and attention seeking, and I couldn’t even keep her alive. My eyes widened and I sighed, slumping my shoulders. 

The guy leaned back, “I started without you,” He turned to us, “This is fascinating,” He pointed to the computer as the Doctor and Rose walked around to look at everything. I stood rooted to my spot, looking at the head of a dead person operating the computer. “Satellite Five contains every piece of information within the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. Birth certificates, shopping habits, bank statements, but you three, you don't exist. Not a trace. No birth, no job, not the slightest kiss. How can you walk through the world and not leave a single footprint?”

Rose had then noticed Suki. She ran toward her and kneeled down, “Suki! Suki! Hello? Can you hear me?” 

I shuddered and backed up a little bit. The Doctor seemed to have noticed the look on my face. “Rose, she’s dead,” I muttered, and the Doctor gently squeezed my hand. 

Rose looked at her again, “But she’s working,” She looked at all the dead bodies and looked at me, “They’re all working,”

“They’ve all got chips in their heads, and the chips keep going,” The Doctor looked around at all of them, “Like puppets,” 

“Welcome to the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. Where you’re even controlled when you’re dead,” The Doctor turned toward me, “Liza’s right. You have no right to do this,”

“Oh,” The guy looked at us, “You’re full of information! But it’s only fair we get some information back, because apparently, you’re no one,” The Doctor grinned at him, “It’s so rare to not know something. Who are you?” 

“It doesn’t matter coz we’re off,” The Doctor took my hand and turned toward the exit, “Nice to meet you,” He turned to Rose, “Come on!” 

“Don’t, they’re gonna-” As he turned around, a couple of dead people grabbed me and him by the shoulders. They were ice cold. Completely and utterly cold, and hard as stone. I had to resist the urge to gag, as their smell hit me. Their rotten, cold, dead smell. My heart rate increased, and I shivered at their cold touch. Like me and the Doctor, Rose was also restrained by Suki, who had grabbed her arm. 

The white haired man turned to us, “Tell me who you are,”

“Since that information is keeping us alive, I’m hardly gonna say, am I?” 

“Well, perhaps my Editor in Chief can convince you otherwise,” The Editor! That’s what he was called- doesn’t matter! I knew that the Jaguar-fez was above us, and I moved a little closer to the Doctor. 

“And who’s that?” 

The Editor leaned toward the Doctor, looking very smug, “It may interest you to know that this is not the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire,”

I scoffed, and he looked at me, an eyebrow raised, “Well, no surprise there, since it’s not even run by humans,”

“What?” The Doctor looked down at me, while the Editor looked at me, eyes wide, “How could you possibly know that?”

I shrugged and smiled at him, “Maybe I’m psychic, or maybe I just deducted it. All I can say,” 

The Jaguar-fez growled, and the Doctor frowned. The Editor seemed to gain his composure again, “May I introduce you to my client,” He pointed up, and the Doctor looked upwards, and pulled me closer to him. The slimy wormy neon thing was growling above us, it’s razor sharp teeth lined neatly in it's wide open mouth. I knew what I would be seeing, but it’s growls and headbutts made me jump.

“What is that?” Rose asked, repulsed. 

“You mean, that thing’s in charge of Satellite Five?” The Doctor asked incredulously. 

“Not just Satellite Five,” I muttered, taking a deep breath as I tried to calm down. 

“Your psychic’s correct. This thing, as you call it, is in charge of the entire human race,” The Editor had a massively smug grin on his face as he walked around, spreading out his hands, “For almost a hundred years, mankind has been shaped and guided, his knowledge and ambition strictly controlled by it's broadcast news, edited by my superior, your master, and humanity's guiding light, the mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe,” He looked at us, a grin on his face that eerily looked like that of the John Simm Master’s, “I call him Max,” 

“You mean mankind has been controlled and oppressed for the past hundred years,” The Doctor glared at the Editor, who shrugged, “I wouldn’t say oppressed. Maybe a teensy little,” He titled his chin and grinned at us. 

The Jaguar-fez- sorry, Jagrafess, growled even more, and I looked up as it’s teeth and head were right above me. I winced and tried to back up a little, only to be held back by the dead people beside me, who tightened their grip on my shoulders. Their cold hands dug into my bones, sending shivers through me. 

The Editor turned to us again, this time, looking directly at me, “Ah, yes. So,” He leaned closer to me and I backed my head, scowling at him, “You’re a psychic, then, otherwise, how would you know about us? So, tell me the future,”

“I’m not psychic, and even if I was, I wouldn’t be able to tell you the future, it’d be against the laws of time,” 

The Jagrafess didn’t seem to like that. He growled fiercely, and I shrunk down as I looked at him. The Editor said, “He doesn’t care. Tell us our future,”

I turned back to him and tried my nest to keep a straight face, “I just told you, I can’t,” I took a deep breath as I tried to remember what happened in the episode. If I was right, Cathica was gonna come up here soon and do something to the systems to overheat the Jagrafess- but not before Adam leaks everything about the Doctor. I took a deep breath as I tried to come up with a plan. “Well,” I opened my eyes, trying to smile, “I can tell you one thing, just as long as you let me go,” 

The Editor waved to the dead people, who let go of my shoulder roughly, and I stumbled before I regained my balance. I massaged my sore shoulders as I looked over at the computers. There had to be a way to reset the connection to the chips or something. 

“Well?” I looked up at the Editor and clasped my hands together. I cleared my throat, “Well, um, the Empire grows stronger under the Jagrafess, especially since the people down there,” I gestured to the cameras and looked at the Doctor, “Don’t know what’s actually going on,” I turned back to the Editor, “They think they’re the ones in control, when they’re really not,” 

I quickly glanced at the system with the dead people. They were having their hands on a pad- maybe I could try to use the pad to disconnect it. The Jagrafess growled and I backed up a little. I turned to the Editor, who clasped his hands together, “Well, that’s expected, judging by the stupidity of humans,” I gritted my teeth at that and scowled at him. “The Jagrafess wants to know more,”

I took another deep breath and turned to the systems, “Well, you also end up upgrading your chip system, make it sonic compatible, I think,” I looked at the Doctor, who subtly tilted his chin down. I turned my eyes down for a moment and quickly looked back at the Editor again. “That’s easier to control and have a safer system interface, or something,” 

“Sonic compatible, interesting,” The Editor mused, and I nodded, backing slowly toward the place where the sonic had fallen down. “Yeah, and the Jagrafess even takes over, uh, Mondas,” I blurted out the first planet that came into my head. The Editor raised an eyebrow, “Mondas?”

“It’s a- uh, twin planet,” I reached the sonic, “The Earth’s twin,” 

“I didn’t realise that Earth had a twin planet,” The Editor mused, and I bent down and picked up the sonic. I pointed it at a system and pressed a button, which made one of the dead bodies lose connection and slump backward on the chair. I turned to face the Editor, pointing the screwdriver at him, “Yeah, there’s a lot of things you didn’t realise,” I pointed the sonic at one of the systems and seemed to have caused a system crash. The Jagrafess growled, and the Editor waved his hands again. 

I used the sonic on the Editor’s forehead, hoping that it disabled or somewhat jeopardised the chip in his head. “Liza!” The Doctor exclaimed, and a hard and cold hand hit my head.   
~~~~  
I opened my eyes, frowning. My hands were in a pair of manacles in front of me and my head was throbbing. The Editor was talking to the Doctor and Rose about something, “Well, now, there’s an interesting point,” I looked around at the systems. They were still broken, but the dead were now typing furiously on the keyboards at something. “Is a slave a slave if he doesn’t know he’s enslaved?” He walked toward us and noticed me, “Ah, you’re awake now,” 

The Doctor glanced down at me, and turned back to the Editor, “She is, and to answer your previous question, yes,” 

“Oh,” He feigned disappointment and clasped his hands together, “I was hoping for a philosophical debate. Is that all I’m gonna get? Yes?”

“Yes,” The Doctor said again, looking around. 

“You’re no fun,”

“Let me out of these manacles,” He lifted his hands up, which made my hands rise up too. I fought a surge of nausea. “And I’ll show you how much fun I am,”

“Oh, he’s tough, isn’t he?” The Editor chuckled, “But, come on. Isn't it a great system? You've got to admire it, just a little bit,” 

“You can’t hide something on this scale,” Rose said, “Somebody must’ve noticed,”

“From time to time, someone, yes,” The Editor walked around the room, flapping his hands about, “But the computer chip system allows me to see into their brains. I can see the smallest doubt and crush it,” He turned to me, “Although, you have disabled my chip temporarily,”

I forced a grin at him, “Why, thank you,”

“Which is why I’m doing it the old fashioned way,” He pointed at the systems, where the dead were typing furiously, “Using a manual check. There has to be something important, otherwise you wouldn’t have tried so hard to disable my chip,” 

Oh no. Brilliant. Of course the Editor would have some sort of backup. I looked down and looked up again, trying my best to keep a straight face. Maybe the Doctor was right. Maybe I really couldn’t do anything right. 

“They don’t even notice!” The Editor turned back to us, “They just carry on, living life, strutting about downstairs and all over the surface of the Earth like they're so individual, when of course, they're not. They're just cattle. In that respect, the Jagrafess hasn't changed a thing,”

I looked behind him and spotted Cathica, who was trying to look at whatever was going on here. “But you’re not a Jagra, er belly-”

“Jagrafess,” The Doctor corrected Rose, who continued, “Jagrafess. You’re not a Jagrafess. You’re human,” 

“Yeah, well, simply being human doesn’t pay very well,” He looked at Rose like she was five. 

“But you couldn’t have done all this on your own!”

“No!” The Editor chuckled, “I represent a consortium of banks. Money prefers a long term investment. Also, the Jagrafess needed a hand to, erm, install himself,” 

The Doctor looked up, “No wonder, a creature that size. What’s his life span?”

“3000 years,”

“That’s one hell of a metabolism, generating all that heat,” He looked down at me, “That’s why Satellite Five’s so hot. You pump it out of the creature, channel it downstairs. Jagrafess stays cool, it stays alive. Satellite Five’s one big life support system,” 

“Exactly,” He walked about, “You seem to have a massive amount of knowledge about this, and knowledge is power,” He turned toward the three of us and pointed at us, “But you remain unknown,” He snapped his fingers, “Who are you?”

Electricity started surging through the manacles, shocking the three of us. I squeezed my eyes shut and clenched my fists tightly, my fingers digging into my palms. I gritted my teeth and tried to stop the tears from coming out as the current surged through me. My head throbbed even more and I bit my lip hard. 

A few moments later, it stopped, and I almost fell down, and probably would’ve, if it weren’t for the manacles and the Doctor and Rose, “Leave them alone,” The Doctor pleaded, “I’m the Doctor, she’s Rose Tyler, and she’s Liza Cole. We’re nothing, we’re just wandering!”

“Tell me who you are!” 

“I just said!” 

“Who do you work for? Who knows about us?! Who exactly-”

He paused, and I shook my head, “Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no, please, just,”

“Looks like there’s an information spike that can give us the information,” He turned to us, a triumphant grin on his face, “Except, you’ve disabled my chip,” 

I sighed, “Yeah, I have, but that’s not gonna help matters, is it?”

“Not at all,” He waved his hands and a screen appeared. Adam was lying on a chair, the information spike coming out of my head, “We did the job manually, and all the information goes to them,” He pointed to the dead, “And in turn, the system database,” 

He snapped his fingers, and another screen appeared, lines full of information about Time Lords, Daleks, Van Statten, and time travel. 

“Oh my God, his head!” Rose exclaimed. 

“What the hell’s he done?!” The Doctor exclaimed. 

“Time Lord. The last of the Time Lords,” The Editor came toward us, “And his girl from the past, and the other who knows his future,” 

“What the hell’s he gone and done? They’re reading his mind, he’s telling them everything!” 

More images appeared in the database, and the Editor looked at them and back to us, “So you are a psychic. All that’s happening here is just a story for you, and you know how it ends,”

“Yeah, enough to let you know that you’re gonna regret this,” I muttered, gritting my teeth. My head felt worse and the only things holding me up were the manacles. 

The Editor then turned to the Doctor, “Through him, I know everything about you. Every piece of information in his head is now mine. And you have infinite knowledge, Doctor. The Human Empire is tiny, compared to what you’ve seen in your T, A, R, D, I, S, TARDIS,”

“Well, you’ll never get your hands on it, I’ll die first,” The Doctor pulled his hands forward, and I was dragged forward. I stumbled, but didn’t fall as the Doctor and Rose were holding me up. “Doctor, uh-”

“Well, die all you like,” The Editor said nonchalantly, “I don’t need you, I’ve got the key!” 

“Yeah,” I let out a deep breath, closing my eyes. I opened them again, dreading the next sight. 

The TARDIS key Rose had given Adam levitated out of his pocket and started flying up the information spike. The Doctor turned to Rose, “You and your boyfriends!” 

“Today, we are the headlines. We can rewrite history. We can prevent mankind from ever developing,”

“And no one’s gonna stop you because you’ve bred a human race that doesn't even bother to ask questions!” The Doctor looked past the Editor and at Cathica, who was still standing there, listening to everything that was going on, “Stupid little slaves, believing every lie. They’ll trot right into a slaughter house if they’re told it's made of gold,”

Cathica seemed to understand, and she walked away. I let out a breath and closed my eyes. At least one good thing happened. Just a few more minutes of this torture, and then Cathica ends up blowing up the whole place. I took a deep breath, trying to stand as my head started spinning. 

Alarms started blaring at that moment, and I sighed, “Thank God,” 

The Editor ran toward the computers and leaned toward a screen, “What’s happening?” The alarms became louder, and the Jagrafess snarled. The screen with Adam and the information disappeared, and the Editor started running around the room, looking at the screens, as the Jagrafess’s snarls became louder. “Someone’s disengaged the safety!”

The Editor snapped his fingers and another screen popped up, with Cathica spiking energy from her brain chip. 

“It’s Cathica!” Rose exclaimed.

“And she’s thinking. She’s using what she knows!” He turned to me, smiling widely, “That’s what you meant in the lift!” 

I smiled weakly as my head started spinning more. My legs felt wobbly and I blinked more and more often. 

“Terminate her access!” The Editor yelled, looking at Suki. 

“Everything I told her about Satellite Five, the pipes, the filters, she’s reversing it! Look at that, it’s getting hot!” I looked up, blinking. The icicles were melting. The Editor was yelling at the dead bodies, but they didn’t respond at all. A few moments later, a massive power surge hit the place, and all the dead bodies slumped onto the system console. 

Rose’s manacles came off. She pulled them over her head and picked up the sonic screwdriver, which had fallen down. “She’s venting the heat up here, the Jagrafess needs to stay cool and now it’s sitting on a volcano!” 

That was true, and the heat was making everything around me start swimming as my head got worse. I shut my eyes and tried to drown out the noise as the Jagrafess started growling louder and louder, and started snapping its jaws near us. “Rose, hurry up!” The Doctor yelled, and I flinched. 

“What do I do?!” She yelled.

“Flick the switch!” The familiar sound of the sonic humming was heard, and my manacles fell off. And so did I. Well, almost. My knees buckled and I was about to collapse to the ground, but the Doctor seemed to have noticed and caught me as I clutched my head. “Are you alright? Sorry, wrong question, what happened?”

“Ow,” I whimpered, clutching my head tighter as I felt dizzier, and my head started aching a little. The Doctor used the sonic on me, “Concussion because of the blow you got to your head by that zombie, and the electric shock didn’t help matters,” I looked up at him, trying to keep my eyes open and stand properly. He shrugged, “Well, nothing a little rest and some bananas can’t fix,”

“I’m okay,” I pulled away from him and tried to stand, but had to hold on to his arm to stop myself from falling again. 

“No, you’re not,” He put an arm around me, and he turned to the Editor, “Oi, mate, wanna bank on a certainty? Massive heat in a massive body, massive bang!” He turned away as we walked out, “See you in the headlines,” 

I tried to run as the Jagrafess started roaring loudre, but was about to fall down as I did so. I grabbed onto the Doctor’s arm as he tightened his grip around me. He tried to run as fast as possible without straining me too much- which I did not appreciate, he had to live through the next 9 series, and I wasn’t even that important anyway, “You know you don’t need to run slower just because you think I’m an invalid, right?”

“What, and leave you here? No way!”

“You know, I really think that’s a good idea, I’m only slowing you down,” 

He pulled me along with him, away from the wreckage, and I flinched as the noise worsened the pain in my head, “I’m not leaving you here, Liza Cole!”

The two of us barely made it as the Jagrafess roared loudly and exploded over everyone there. All the dead people finally got their peace, and the Editor- well, he actually deserved it in my opinion. But all the others- and Suki- I’d failed to save Suki. I couldn’t even get the Doctor to hurry up to stop that one death from happening. 

We reached Cathica, who was still transmitting information everywhere, and the Doctor snapped his fingers. The light from her head went out as her brain chip closed. She looked up at the Doctor and smiled softly. I felt another jolt of pain in my head and clutched onto it. The Doctor tightened his grip around me and I leaned into him, closing my eyes for a few moments. He nudged me, “Liza,” I looked up at him, blinking, “We need to go downstairs, you can lie down back in the TARDIS,”

I hummed, and tried to stand upright with some support from him, and grabbed his arm as I was about to tip over again. He put his arm around me again and helped me run back to the elevator.   
~~~~  
“We’re just gonna go, I hate tidying up,” The Doctor then turned away from Cathica and to me, “Too many questions, also, Liza looks like she’s been tossed around by a hurricane. You’ll manage,” I would’ve contradicted him if it was any other time, but judging by the fact that a frozen zombie punched me and a crazy newspaper editor electrocuted me in a room that felt like Antarctica, I actually agreed with him. 

“You’ll have to stay here and explain it, no one’s gonna believe me,” Cathica protested, but the Doctor waved it off, “They might start believing a lot of things now, the human race should accelerate,”

“And come up with a cure for hurricane syndrome,” I muttered, pulling my head off his shoulder. I blinked and cupped my face in my hands, resting my elbows on my thigh. 

“What about your friend?” 

“She’ll be fine, she just needs to lie down and have a few bananas,” 

“She was talking about Adam,” I looked up at him and he scowled, “He’s not my friend,” He got up and helped me up, “We need to make you get used to this stuff,” He muttered, as we walked back toward the TARDIS. “I’m sorry,” He looked down at me, frowning, “For what?”

“Everything?” I shrugged, as we reached Adam, “I’m alright now,” Adam pulled out the key, stammering, “Much better now, look, I’ve got the key,”

I went ahead to lean against the TARDIS. The Doctor was dangerously quiet, like he always was when he was angry. Adam put his hands in his pockets as he continued making excuses. The Doctor just remained silent. I pulled myself away from the TARDIS wall, and walked inside after him, Rose and Adam. 

The Doctor went toward the console, and I muttered, pointing toward the corridor, “I’m just gonna be in my room,” They didn’t notice, thankfully and unsurprisingly, and I walked into the corridor. 

The TARDIS seemed to sense that I was tired (which shouldn’t come as a surprise, even John Lumic from the parallel world would’ve known I was tired, judging by how I looked), and made my door appear closer to where I was. 

I walked into the room, and was thankful that I didn’t put my bed up earlier. I plonked into my bed face-first, with my clothes and my shoes, and closed my eyes, succumbing to the dizziness. 

I looked up from the bed groggily a few moments later. I groaned and rolled over, frowning. I lifted my hand and placed it on my temples. My head wasn’t hurting anymore. I stretched out my hands, and yawned. The TARDIS hummed, and opened the bathroom doors, humming a bit threateningly this time. I put my hands up, “Okay, okay, I know the drill,”

I pulled myself out of bed and walked into the bathroom, grabbing a towel on the way.   
~~~~  
“Ah, you’re up!” I walked into the console room, blinking. “Where’s Adam?”

He frowned, “I dropped him off back home, didn’t they show you that?”

I walked down the steps toward the console, “Yeah, they did, but how come I didn’t get thrown around my room seven million times till we landed?”

He pouted at me and scowled, “Oi, that’s never happened!” 

The TARDIS hummed, and he turned to her, “Oh, come on, don’t go supporting her, I’m not such a bad driver!” 

The TARDIS hummed disapprovingly again, and I shrugged, “Well, she agrees with me,” I sat down on a chair, “Though, seriously, how come I didn’t feel us travelling?” 

He shrugged and gestured to the TARDIS, “I dunno, maybe she did something to prevent you from getting thrown across,” He turned to me, “Or maybe, I’m a good driver and you’re just mistaken,” 

I laughed, and looked at the TARDIS, who hummed again- this time in what I guessed was a sarcastic tone, “I’m going with the first option,”

The Doctor scowled at me and the TARDIS, “Stupid people ganging up on me,” He turned toward me and pointed a finger at me, “No bananas for you,”

“Seriously?” I raised both my eyebrows, “You’re acting like you’re nine- no pun intended,”

“But I am Nine! I’m the Ninth Doctor!” 

“I just said no pun intended’,” 

The TARDIS hummed, amused, and I stroked the console. 

“You’re really strange,” He muttered as he opened up a part of the TARDIS to work on.

I laughed, shaking my head, and walked toward the corridor, “Alright, since we have no immediate life threatening events to get to, I’ll go and have some food-” I looked at the corridor and all the doors on it, “Unless it hasn’t moved anywhere somehow-”

The TARDIS gave me an exasperated hum (again) and I shrugged. “What? Things like that can happen you know?” I tilted my chin and muttered, “Well, maybe, but you know what I mean!” 

The TARDIS hummed again, almost like she was groaning and rolling her eyes. I rubbed my hands together and started walking forward, “Okay, so I go in the way you light up- right?” 

No answer. If she had a face I could see, it would probably have an ‘are you kidding me?’ look. “Okay, then, now that I’m done arguing with a spaceship, I’ll just go and raid the Doctor’s cookies- if I find where he kept them and if the meme speaks the truth- or whatever,” 

“Oi, I can hear you!” I turned around as the Doctor looked up from the console and scowled at me. “Nobody touches my cookies!” 

I put my hands up and grinned, “Okay, okay, that was a joke, seriously, Doctor, why would I steal your cookies?” I turned around and skipped forward and turned left as the TARDIS lit that side up. 

I hummed as I walked down the corridor till I reached a wooden door with the carving of a saucepan on it. “Ooh, fancy! I didn’t see the saucepan yesterday!” I murmured as I turned the doorknob and opened the door. 

I entered the green and blue kitchen, which was empty except for a saucepan on the stove and an opened packet of hot cocoa mix on the table, empty, except for a few particles of brown powder, while the sugar jar stood beside it. 

Rose was sitting in front of the table in the middle, stirring a mug of hot cocoa with a spoon while looking down at it, presumably not noticing that I was there. “Hey, are you alright?” I asked her as I walked toward the refrigerator. 

She jumped and turned around to me and nodded, “Yeah, fine. You?” 

I opened the freezer door, “Yeah, much better now,” I poked around and looked at all the compartments and grinned. “Ah,” I pulled out the tub of butterscotch ice cream and closed the door. Rose frowned at the ice cream. “You’re having ice cream for breakfast?” 

I shrugged, pulling open a bunch of cabinets to find the bowls. “We’re in a time machine. There’s no concept of time here.” I pulled out a blue bowl and a spoon from the cabinet, the spoon clattering in the bowl. 

Rose chuckled, “Well, that’s brilliant. No time in a time machine,” She went back to looking at her cocoa after she took a sip. I frowned as I looked through the blue drawers for a scoop. “Well, that’s what the Doctor told me yesterday- I mean, after we met the Dalek,” 

I dunked the scoop into the tub and pulled out the biggest scoop it could carry and dumped it into my bowl (and successfully drowned my spoon) and topped it with another scoop. I sighed and shook my head as I slowly put my hand into the bowl to uncover my spoon. 

“Why’s it always the good looking ones?” 

I turned around, licking my fingers, my spoon in my other hand. “I’m sorry?” 

She turned toward me, holding her mug of hot cocoa tightly, the smoke billowing in spirals in front of her face. “You know, why’s it always the good looking ones that completely screw everything over? First Jimmy Stone, and now Adam-” 

I raised my eyebrows and sat in front of her, putting my bowl in front of me. “Ah, that.” I put a spoon of ice cream in my mouth and pulled it out after eating a bit of it. “We’ve all been there, don’t feel bad about it.”

“It’s just- I dunno-” She stirred her drink, “I met Adam and thought ‘Finally, someone decent’, and then he ends up becoming like every other bloke I’ve met- taking advantage and becoming a complete arse.” 

I nodded, swallowing some more ice cream, “When I was in high school, there was this guy, Keith Brown. Smart, sweet, and amazing hair.”

“Did you fancy him?” 

“Did I fancy him- oh yeah. Massive crush. Used to go out of my way to try to impress him and make a fool of myself instead,” I ate another spoon of ice cream, “Turns out, he had a crush on me too, and we both became somewhat of a thing. I tried my best to be nice to him- helped him with his essays and he helped me with math. And then one day, I go to his house to return his notebook which he forgot in my place, and I see him in his room making out with Amanda Wilkins. Apparently, all he did was want my help to get his English grades up so he did all this nonsense.”

Rose shook her head, taking a sip of her hot cocoa. “Reminds me of Jimmy. I was mad about him. Shireen, Kathy, Mum- everyone told me he was bad news. But just because I had four conversations with him and he seemed like half a decent bloke, I disagreed with all of them. Started a relationship. Nobody approved and everyone was insulting him and asking me to stay away.” She took another sip and stared behind me at the door, “I used to hate it when they did that. And then one day, he said ‘Rose, why don’t we just run away?’ and I was stupid enough to agree with him. Left school, packed a bag, went to the bus station to wait for him- and he never turned up. Apparently, he wanted to get back at Kathy for breaking up with him.” 

“So he did this to you?” I raised my eyebrows and she nodded. “Kathy was my best friend back at school and Jimmy wanted to give her hell-” 

I put my spoon back into the bowl. “God, that’s terrible! Honestly, I hate that it’s always the ones we think are half decent who end up doing that,” 

“I know! Honestly, Mickey’s the only one who’s actually as decent as-” Her eyes widened and she placed her mug back on the table, “Oh my God, Mickey! I’m dating Mickey Smith and now I’ve gone off and-” She put her face in her hands, “God, it's-” 

“Well, was it serious with Adam?” 

“No, I mean, I sorta fancied him and he told me he fancied me, and then the Doctor decided to pin him as my boyfriend and I guess it stuck, I dunno,” 

I took a deep breath, “Well, I’m not denying what you did was wrong, but I don’t think there’s anything we can do about it now except for maybe not telling Mickey,”

The door opened behind me and I turned around, “Not tell Ricky what?” 

“Mickey!” I rolled my eyes and turned back to Rose, who shook her head at the Doctor, who was staring at my bowl of ice cream. 

“You’re having ice cream for breakfast?” 

“Exactly what I asked her, Doctor,” Rose turned to him, plastering a grin on her face. 

I scowled at him, “You were the one who told me that we were in a time machine and that there’s no concept of time here!” 

“Yeah, but you’ve been through a hurricane and the last thing we need is you getting a cold now!” 

“Doctor, I’m a mature adult and I think I can handle eating ice cream now, for God’s sake, you’re worse than my mother,” 

“I’m the Doctor, I’m worse than everybody’s mother!” 

Rose and I looked at each other for a few moments before I burst into laughter along with her. The Doctor frowned at the two of us. “What? What are the two of you laughing about?” 

I shook my head and banged my hand on the table, laughing harder as he became more and more confused and started questioning us again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Okay, I really didn't expect to write that last scene tbh- I guess it's just that I don't want to make Rose Liza's enemy or something for some reason. I feel like they're both gonna go in a frenemy direction of sorts and have an overall good relationship. This is the first time I've done something this unplanned for the story and idk how to feel about that, honestly. Please let me know what you guys think and thank you so much for supporting my story! It honestly means a lot! Anyway, the next chapter is gonna be an original one, and it's not an adventure- more like a trip to a place to see something but there's no danger (seeing as to how many times the poor Doctor gets in danger, I feel like he deserves a chill adventure once in a while where there's no threat of anybody dying lol). I'm really excited for that one and I can't wait for you guys to read it! Anyway, thanks so much for reading and I hope all of you have a lovely day/night! Bye!


	11. Ice Water Jet on a Moon

“Liza, for the last time, the screen isn’t my secret diary!” The Doctor pulled the screen away from me (again) as I reached for it for the 4.5 billionth time.

“Why?” I ran behind him as he pulled the screen around, running around the console. “Is it some sort of a secret plan to overthrow the emperor of Tivoli?”

“Tivoli gets a new emperor every week! And no, it isn’t a secret plan or anything!”

“I don’t know, maybe you’re planning to start a new reign or something-”

“And why would I do that?” He stopped and looked at me, raising an eyebrow.

“Um-” I stopped and bit my lip, “Because you like Tivoli?”

He closed his eyes and shook his head, sighing. “Why do you have to come up with the world’s strangest explanations for everything?”

I threw my hands up and placed them on the edge of the console. “I don’t know, maybe because I have no idea what the actual answer to your question is!”

He rolled his eyes and pressed a few buttons on the TARDIS. “I swear it’s a miracle I’ve not gone completely insane yet,” He muttered, and I rolled my eyes at him. “That’s because you were always insane,”

He pretended to not have heard that (I knew he did- he was able to hear me talk to Rose about the location of the cookie jar a whole corridor away just to prevent me from stealing his ‘secret’ stash of cookies three weeks ago) as he turned to the corridor. “Rose, where are you?”

“Hang on!” Her voice was muffled. Soon, she ran toward us, holding a hat (more specifically, a stetson). She came to a stop at the entrance of the console room and spun around, putting the hat on. “How do I look?”

She was wearing a miniskirt with stockings and a blue top, complete with her hair tucked under her hat. “Like Liz Shaw, except with longer hair,” I said, and she raised an eyebrow. “Who?”

“I’d lose the hat if I were you.” The Doctor walked back around the console. Rose frowned at him. “But I want to wear a hat! And I only had another option in the closet for a hat!”

“Go with that then!” He shrugged, and she scowled, “With what, the red fez nobody likes?”

“Go with the fez, fezzes are cool.” I said, and the Doctor and Rose looked at me, both eyebrows raised.

“Fezzes? Cool? What in the name of everything are you going on about?” The Doctor looked scandalised, and I put a hand on my heart, “God, don’t say that, fezzes are cool.”

“No they’re not!” Rose said, walking toward us. The Doctor nodded at her. “Exactly!”

“Future you would like to have a word,” I muttered, putting my hand on the console. “Anyway, where are we going?”

He looked up at me, a grin on his face. “That’s a surprise.”

I groaned. “Please don’t tell me we’re going to that steam engine exhibition you were talking about-”

“Or the intergalactic collection of spoons-” Rose continued, leaning forward.

“Or the stamp museum on that asteroid, er, what was it called?”

“I think it was some sort of, er, Blonky-”

“Blomatrix!” The Doctor looked around at the two of us, clearly offended. “And stamps are interesting, for your kind information!”

“Yeah, okay, okay-” I put my hands up and turned toward the console. Rose turned toward me, “Yeah, Doctor, they’re fascinating-” I flashed her a grin and she grinned back at me for a moment, before looking back at the Doctor, who was scowling at the two of us. Rose and I had gotten closer in the last few weeks, and honestly speaking, she wasn't as bad as I thought she would've been. I wasn't a huge fan of her while watching the show, but she wasn't as horrible as I assumed her to be.

“Do the two of you only get along when it’s time to bully me?” He looked at the two of us and back at the console, “Anyway, to answer your previous question, we aren’t going to any of the places you both have mentioned-” And then he grumbled a bunch of indecipherable nonsense- “Anyway, like I said, you both aren’t going to be expecting this!”

“Um, okay?” I looked at him, my eyebrows raised. "It better not be the planet full of carnivorous pears."

"There is no planet of carnivorous pears! And even if there was, that would be the last place we'd go to!"

"You say that every time we talk about a dangerous planet and we always end up going there!" Rose said, walking behind him as he walked around the console, flicking switches and pressing buttons.

"Yeah, but he's got a phobia of pears because they're squishy and make your chin wet," I muttered, and scowled at him as he pushed my hand away when I tried to press a button.

"I haven't got a phobia of pears, just a strong dislike for them, and no, we aren't going there," He turned to me and pointed to a lever beside me. I pulled it and we took off, just as violently as we always did.

~~~~

“Doctor, honestly, for once in your entire life,” I slowly got up from the floor of the TARDIS, my head spinning. I put my hands on the console and stood up, blowing a strand of hair away from my face (only to fail terribly as it fell back on the exact same spot again), “And I mean it in every way possible- can you not almost get everyone killed every time you fly the TARDIS?”

He scowled at me and threw his hands up in the air, “It’s called quality TARDIS driving!”

“No, it’s called ‘Hey, I’m going to get everyone maimed or killed!’ TARDIS driving!” I pushed my hair back and scowled at him as Rose laughed and the TARDIS hummed, amused, a yellow glow coming from her for a moment.

“Whatever Liza says though, I like it,” Rose shrugged and the Doctor grinned at her. “See? At least someone accepts that it’s quality TARDIS driving,”

I frowned and leaned against the console, “She said that she liked it, she didn’t say that it was quality TARDIS driving or whatever,”

“Anyway, where are we, Doctor?” Rose cleared her throat and smiled at him. He grinned at the two of us, “Finally, somebody asked! You’ll find out once we walk outside!”

I skipped down and was about to open the door when he shouted and I jumped, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

I turned around and frowned, “Going outside to see where we are! You said that we would find out when we walk outside!”

“What, like that? You’ll die of hypothermia the moment you walk out!” My eyes widened and I ran back toward the console as Rose gasped and almost fell down. The Doctor then shook his head, “Actually, you’d die of oxygen before that-”

“What?!” Rose yelled, and I gripped onto the console. I looked up at him, “Seriously, what the hell, Doctor?”

“You’ll have to wear spacesuits, of course! They’re in the closet!”

“What about you then?” Rose scowled at him, “Or can Time Lords survive oxygen deprivation?”

“I have one in my room, for your kind information, and I’m going to go put that on, so stop asking questions and go put your spacesuits on!” He walked through the corridor as the TARDIS hummed again, exasperated this time. I patted her console, “Yeah, I know, Sexy,”

I looked up at Rose, who had a weird look on her face, “Sexy?” I shrugged, “Yeah, that’s her name,”

“Of all the names in all of time and space, he picked Sexy,” Rose shook her head and I grinned. “Well, he doesn’t even realise that she accepted that as her name till she tells him herself,”

Rose looked at me, an eyebrow raised and I laughed, “Spoilers,” I stood up straight and stretched my arms, “Anyway, why don’t we go and put our spacesuits on before the Doctor starts complaining about slow apes or whatever?”

~~~~

“There you are! I’ve been waiting for hours!” The Doctor stood near the console, wearing a bright orange suit, holding a helmet. The TARDIS hummed, sending a red glow throughout.

“I don’t speak TARDIS, but I’ll take that as her saying that you didn’t wait for hours,” I put the helmet on and blinked as everything in front of me was tinted in a bluish colour. The TARDIS sent a wave of green light and I smirked.

“I’ll take that as the TARDIS agreeing with Liza,” Rose put on her helmet, twisting it to hold it in place. The Doctor scowled at us and at the TARDIS, “You’re supposed to be supporting me!”

She hummed again, sounding like she was laughing. I grinned at her and turned to the Doctor. “Anyway, at least now that we look like Human slash Time Lord Cheetos, can you tell us where we are?”

He grinned at us and pointed to the door, “Why don’t you see for yourself?”

I raised my eyebrows at him, “Okay, but are you sure we’re not gonna die this time? You literally just scared us with hypothermia some time ago,”

“Why don’t you tell that to Rose?” He pointed at the door and I turned around. It was open, and Rose wasn’t there. “Rose, are you okay?” I called out.

“Oh my God! Liza, you should really come and see this!” I turned back to the Doctor, who pointed at the door. I took a deep breath and looked at him, “I swear if I run into some sort of space Yeti that isn’t friendly, I’ll kill you,”

I turned around and walked outside slowly, taking deep breaths as I did so. I gripped onto the door frame of the TARDIS as I slowly stepped out, my heart beating fast against my chest.

I looked around at my surroundings, mainly the thing in front of me, and I gasped, “You have got to be kidding me,” I slowly stepped forward to go and join Rose, who was staring at the bluish orange atmosphere. “We’re on a planet. An actual planet. A planet that isn’t Earth,”

We had gone to visit Democritus in Ancient Greece after the whole Satellite Five incident, and then we went to meet Jackie, after which we drifted around in space for a while. This was the first time the Doctor took me and Rose to another planet, and a planet that was uninhabitable, by the looks of it.

“Moon, not planet,” The Doctor came to stand beside me as I looked at the sky. I looked down at the ground, which was covered with powdery stuff and was hard underneath. I was about to step forward to go and meet Rose when the Doctor put a hand on my shoulder. I looked at him. “You might want to be careful while walking on the ground,”

I nodded and slowly put a foot forward and grabbed onto the Doctor’s arm in shock as I slipped. The powdery stuff was swept away as my boot had penetrated it, only to leave a smooth and hard surface, which was a tad bit slippery. “The ground, it's- it’s made of ice,”

He nodded and grinned, “You’re gonna have to be careful then. No walking without paying attention,” I nodded and let go of his arm as I slowly regained balance and put my foot on the ground slowly. I slid my other foot forward, stretching my hands out. I closed my eyes and slid my feet forward, skating slowly toward Rose.

It took a while, but I finally reached Rose and stared at what she was looking at. There was a brown object in the sky, far away from us. It took an effort to see it as it was completely blocked over by the thick atmosphere of wherever we were.

I craned my neck and squinted to have a better look at the object. As I finally got used to the atmosphere, I was able to see everything in the sky more clearly. I gasped as I could slowly see translucent rings surrounding the planetary object in front of us.

The Doctor finally caught up with us and put an arm around me and Rose. “That’s Saturn, isn’t it?” Rose whispered, and the Doctor said, “Yup! That’s Saturn- second largest planet in your solar system. Huge gas giant, rings made of ice- all that.”

“So we’re on one of its moons.” I said, looking away from Saturn and at the rest of the landscape. We weren’t very far from the TARDIS. The whole horizon was full of huge mountains which were topped with ice. There were smaller hills around, and we were near a massive water (or some liquid) body which looked like a massive lake.

I turned to the Doctor again, who nodded. “We’re on Titan. Saturn’s largest moon. The crust is made of solid ice.” He then pointed to the lake nearby, “And that lake over there, and all lakes on the moon- they’re full of liquid methane and ethane- basically liquid rocket fuel.”

“So- nobody lives here?”

“Rose, if anybody ever lived here, they’d either be frozen or exploded, or really resistant to cold and oxygen deprivation,” He replied, and I smiled. “Anyway, I brought you both here to go and see that volcano over there,” He pointed at the mountain nearest to us. “It’s about to erupt, and I just realised that neither of you have ever seen a volcano before,”

“You realised we’ve never seen volcanoes before, so you decided to get us to Saturn’s moon.”

“Come on, Liza, go big or go home- or in this case, go back into the TARDIS.”

“So basically, go big or go bigger on the inside.”

“I’d choose bigger on the inside any day,” Rose said, and the Doctor scowled at the two of us, “Should’ve never said that.”

I laughed and slipped- and gripped on his arm as I did so and he stuck his tongue out at me- only to fail and have it bump into the helmet instead. Rose and I laughed, me slipping more, but thankfully, the Doctor had a grip on me and I didn’t fall flat on my helmet onto the ice.

“Anyway, now that Miss Clumsy isn’t falling anymore, let’s all go and see the volcano= from a safe distance, of course. Spacesuits don’t suddenly turn you into an Avenger.”

“A what?” Rose asked, and I looked at him, eyes wide. “You know about the Avengers?”

“Yeah. Almost cried during Endgame-”

“Oi- spoilers- it hasn't been released in my world yet.” I held up a hand as I slowly tried to regain balance and stand properly.

“What’s an Avenger?” Rose scowled at the two of us, clearly not happy that she wasn’t involved in the conversation. The Doctor turned to her and said, “Well, they’re a band of superheroes who try to save the world from threats. The one time they tried to stop an alien threat, though, pathetic. Although, that’s what you expect from apes.”

I looked up at him. “Excuse me?”

Rose shook her head. “You’ll end up getting used to all the ape comments someday. He loves insulting species when he’s aggravated, honestly,”

“Oi!”

~~~~

“Alright then, this dune is the nearest we can get to the volcano without there being a high chance of us getting a huge jet of cold water on us-”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on-” I held up a hand a little way from the Doctor, who was standing on the top of the dune with Rose as I was climbing it. “What do you mean, cold water?”

“You know, the cold water from the volcano!”

Rose whipped around and almost hit the Doctor by accident, “Don’t volcanoes have lava and fire in them? Why is there cold water in a volcano?”

“Moon this cold, planet this far from the sun, atmosphere like this, crust made completely of ice- isn’t it obvious? Also, hurry up, Liza, or you’ll miss it,”

“Okay, okay, I’ll get there, hold on!” I trudged up the dune, holding my hands out and walking like a penguin. I finally reached the Doctor and Rose and went to stand in between the two of them.

“Took you long enough,” The Doctor grumbled, and I scowled at him. He then pointed to the volcano. “Don’t look at me, look at the volcano, it’s starting to erupt,”

I looked toward the volcano, from which a huge rumbling sound was heard. “Okay, this will take some time, but it will erupt soon, if I’ve remembered the dates correctly.”

“Please don’t tell me we landed in the wrong time zone again because if we did, I would definitely be extremely irritated.”

“Would it kill you to have a little faith in me?”

“Will the two of you stop arguing and watch the volcano for god’s sake?” The Doctor and I looked at Rose, who was scowling at the two of us. I shrugged and threw my hands up. The Doctor looked back at the volcano, which seemed to be cracking slowly. “Both of you- the volcano will take a shorter amount of time to erupt than it will on Earth, mainly since I decided to come here during a time when the seismic activity is at an all time high,”

Another huge rumble. There were a few cracks on the volcano, which were slowly starting to get wider.

~~~~

“If my watch is right, we’ve got about a few minutes till the volcano erupts, which is just as well, because the TARDIS oxygen field will run out soon, mainly since I’ve extended it this far,”

The volcano was cracking more and there were rumbling noises coming from it more often as something leaked out of it slowly. I looked behind to see the TARDIS, which was close to us, probably because we were on the closest dune. “How long will it last?”

The Doctor shrugged, “About an hour. Just enough time for us to watch the eruption and go back as soon as possible.”

I looked back at the volcano, shuddering. Some time later, the volcano started rumbling louder. The Doctor took mine and Rose’s hands and squeezed mine. “It’s happening.”

My heart started beating fast as the rumbling started to get even louder. I squeezed his hand and he tightened his grip on mine as I bit my lip. The liquid in the volcano was leaking more and more and was forming streams from the top of it. The streams were becoming more and more profuse and fast, and the rumbling became louder.

I took a deep breath and dug my teeth into my lip as the explosion reached my ears. And then, the huge jet of cold water spewing from the volcano. The massive jet that surprisingly didn’t reach us (probably because the dune we were on was kinda far away from it). It fell into the methane lakes and had a lot of white mist spewing out.

~~~~

I gripped my mug of hot cocoa with one hand as I went into the console room. The Doctor was there, fixing something as usual, and I smiled at him. “Want some hot cocoa?” I held out the other mug as he looked up from whatever the hell he was doing. “Alright!” He walked toward me and took the blue mug with the bananas all over it. “Where’s Rose?”

“Jackie called. She’s talking to her right now.” I walked toward the console, “Anyway, what are you doing?”

“Nothing, just fixing some stuff that’s been broken.”

“Seriously, though, why is it that every time I come here, you’re fixing the TARDIS?”

“Because she keeps getting damaged thanks to whatever nonsense we get ourselves into!”

“Really?” I raised my eyebrows at him. He shook his head as he gripped the hot cocoa and pointed to the door. “Yes, really. Also, go look outside. Thought you might like where we are. And don’t step out without looking.”

I shot him a look before going toward the door to see where we were. I carefully opened the door (like he said) and gasped at what I saw. I looked back inside at him as he had an expectant smile on his face. “Well?”

“We’re hovering on top of Saturn. Like, the actual Saturn,” I whispered, and sat down on the edge of the TARDIS. The planet below me was huge- and it’s translucent rings were much clearer now that we weren’t on a moon with a thick atmosphere. The colourful rings and the planet almost dimmed all the other planetary bodies and the stars in the distance.

I took a sip of my hot cocoa after blowing in my mug to cool it down a little. I turned around to the Doctor, who was looking at the console, his mug on the floor. “Hey, big ears,”

He looked up from his work and scowled at me. “They’re not that bad,”

“I don’t care- anyway, come here,”

“I can’t, I’m fixing the TARDIS,” He pointed to the console and I rolled my eyes. “That can wait, you really need to interact with other people and that’s more important at the moment- God, I sound like Alice.” The Doctor was smiling at me. I raised my hand, “But the point still stands.”

He raised an eyebrow at me and I shook my head. He then stood up and took his mug in his hand. “Alright then. Human interaction it is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey guys! I know, nothing really happened in this chapter and it was probably really boring, but the next one is gonna be Father's Day (another episode I wasn't particularly a huge fan of) and I think another original chapter, but an adventure instead. Thank you all so much for showing so much love to the story and please let me know all your thoughts about Liza and this chapter in the comments! 


	12. Chapter 12

It was cold. I opened my eyes, scrunching up my nose. What the- I felt the ground I was on. My eyes widened and I gasped, pulling my hand off immediately, flinching because of the cold. “Doctor?” 

I looked around, sitting up. There was snow and ice everywhere, covering everything around me. My head snapped up, my eyes wide as they scanned the area. There were icy wires hanging over me. The whole place was dark, with a dim blue light streaming across. It was quiet, and my own breaths sounded like something out of a megaphone. 

I stood up, dusting myself, still looking around. “Doctor? Where are you?” And where am I- more importantly? I shivered, rubbing my arms up and down with my palms. Thank God I was wearing a hoodie- or else I would’ve probably died of hypothermia before I even woke up. 

I frowned, looking around. The wires- and the gentle hum of the engine- whose spaceship were we on? I pushed an icicle-worn wire out of my way as I walked forward toward the source of light. “Doctor! Rose! Where in the name of God are we?” 

I rubbed my hands up and down my arms continuously, breathing out white mist. As I walked toward the light source, I frowned as I saw a circular pedestal with plastic curtains around it. I turned toward it. “Hello? Doctor?” I tentatively took a step forward. “Anybody?” 

My heart hammered against my chest, and I inhaled sharply. I took another step forward, but there seemed to be no movement behind the curtain. “Is anybody here? I don’t know where I am!” 

No response. My heart beat faster as I reached the pedestal. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and opened them, relaxing my shoulders. I pushed the curtains open and saw what was inside. 

I screamed, and finally figured out where I was. There was a reclining chair on the pedestal, and on top of the chair was a skeleton- with its skull split open. Almost like- 

I jumped as a cold hand gripped my shoulder. My heart beat even faster and I swallowed hard. Don’t cry. I took a deep breath and slowly turned my head around. 

It was a corpse covered in ice and snow, staring at me with it’s cold, dead eyes. The Editor was right behind it, another corpse beside him, the same dead look in its eyes. Rose. I swallowed again and gulped. Don’t cry. 

“Doctor-” I whispered, as his corpse tightened its grip on my shoulder. “No-”

“Ah, hello! The other nonexistent one!” The Editor clapped his hands together, smirking at me. I looked up at him, trying to keep the tears at bay. “What have you done to them?” 

“Oh, this old thing? I’ve just made them a little frosty.” He looked at me, his eyes glinting. “Don’t worry, it wasn’t painful- or that’s what I’m making you think. Better to go into the process expecting good things, eh?”   
~~~~  
My eyes shot open as I sat up. I looked around where I was, eyes wide. I gripped onto what was underneath me, biting my lip. 

A gentle hum sounded, and the room lit up with a soft yellow glow. I exhaled deeply, my shoulders relaxing and my fists unclenching, letting go of my blanket. Another nightmare- fifth time in the last six days- or well, TARDIS days, as Rose liked to call them. 

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. My sleep schedule, which was already pretty messed up, had gotten even more inconsistent thanks to the nightmares about the adventures I had with the Doctor and Rose. Sometimes it was the corpses in Satellite Five, or the Dalek in Van Statten's museum, or the mutant humans we had to run away from in Cravalio. 

It reminded me of the days after the whole Alice/Kroy incident. I had nightmares for days on end of mirrors possessing people and leaking out of their eyes and mouth. It was always the same- someone I cared about being affected by some sort of alien thing, me waking up in cold sweat, me not being able to fall back asleep. 

The TARDIS hummed and I looked at the walls. "Yeah, well, at least it wasn't the Dalek this time," I muttered, slouching, "Well, it's that's what you were asking me- if it was something else, that would've been awkward." 

She hummed again, a bit more amused by the sound of it. I grinned at her and sighed, closing my eyes. The skeleton on the chair. The Doctor’s cold hand on my shoulder. I snapped my eyes open again and shook my head. "When will I ever learn?" I reached for the green book near my bed. 

I opened the first page, my eyes skimming over the familiar words and passages of the book that I'd been reading every night to calm myself down. Not for the first time, an argument had broken out over breakfast at number four, Privet Drive….  
~~~~  
I buried my face deeper into my pillow as the Doctor continued poking my cheek, “Get up!” 

I scowled, and looked up at him, pulling my pillow close to me, “Why, it’s like six thirty in the morning!” I whined, and flopped back into bed. 

“We’re in a time machine, there’s no concept of time here!” He continued poking my cheek, and I pushed his hand off, covering my head with a pillow. He then moved on to try to pull the pillow off my head. “Doctor, please, five minutes!” 

“No, we’ve gotta leave soon!”

I looked up at him, scowling, my pillow still over my head, “What’s this place we’re even going to?”

“We’re gonna go meet Rose’s dad, come on!” 

Oh no- why? Why this episode, why now?! I shot up, almost bonking his head in the process. He swerved away in time, and looked at me with a surprised expression on his face, “Should’ve just said that in the first place,” He muttered. 

“Don’t,” He looked at me again, frowning. “Don’t what?”

“Don’t do it,”

“You mean, meet Rose’s dad?” 

“Yeah,”

“Why?” 

I scratched my head and sat down on my bed properly, “It’s a horrible episode, and judging by how useless I was in the previous two episodes, it’ll be a surprise if things actually go right this time,” 

He frowned at me, “What’d you mean, useless?”

“Exactly what it means,” I dragged myself out of bed, sighing. The Doctor’s frown deepened, “But you said that it was an episode, meaning, it should happen, right?” 

I shrugged, yawning, “I guess, I mean-”

“Then that means we should go and meet her dad,” He looked at me as I frowned, and cut me off as II was about to say something, “It’s alright, whatever is gonna happen there, I won’t blame you,”

“Okay,” I said, shrugging, as he got out of the room.  
~~~~  
“I, Peter Alan Tyler, take you, Jacqueline Andrea Suzette Prentice,” Said the registrar. The three of us were in the church where Rose’s parents got married. I closed my eyes, trying to remember what had happened in this episode. There were the Reapers, the Doctor almost got erased from existence because adult Rose touched kid Rose, and the time loop car thing fixed everything. I took a deep breath and continued to watch the ceremony. 

Pete looked at Jackie, “I, Peter Alan Tyler, take you,” He took Jackie’s hand and stuttered, “Jacqueline Susanne,” He corrected himself correctly, “Suzette- Anita?” 

He looked back at the Registrar, who was smiling at him, amused. Jackie, on the other hand, stared at Pete, “Oh, just carry on, if it’s good enough for Lady Di,”

The Doctor grinned at him, and Rose muttered, “I thought he’d be taller,”

He looked down at her, “Lesson one. Never assume the past,” 

I took a deep breath as the ceremony ended, and pulled the Doctor’s sleeve, “We should really get going, who knows how Jackie would react when she sees us,” 

“Good point,” He muttered back to me, and tugged onto Rose’s hand. She looked up, and he gestured that we had to leave. “Alright,” She muttered, and we turned away and walked out of the church, unseen by everyone.   
~~~~  
We walked into the TARDIS, and I ran toward the console, running my hand on the edge. “Oi,” I looked up to see the Doctor, who was pointing his screwdriver at me, “No touching any buttons unless you want to end up in a place so impossible that there's two dimensional beings there,” 

I giggled, looking down, and he frowned, “What are you laughing about?”

I laughed even more and looked up, “Sorry, it’s just- how can there be two dimensional creatures?” 

“It’s an impossible universe, Liza, anything can happen here,” He flicked a few switches in the console, and looked at Rose, who was looking at the ground, “You alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” She waved it off, but the Doctor frowned, “No, you’re not,”

She looked up at him, “It’s just- I never expected I’d actually see him, you know. Mum told me so many things about him,”

“I imagine she did, she tells lots of things about everyone,” He shrugged, and walked around the console. I looked down at the controls and a red button caught my eye. “Don’t even think about pressing that, Liza,”

I looked up at him, scowling, “I wasn’t even gonna touch it!” 

He laughed, and went back to where he was, pulling a screen along with him, “Joke of the day, Liza,” He looked at Rose again, “Seriously, are you alright? It can be really strange for you to see a dead person before they die,”

She looked up at him again, “Well, I know that, it’s just-” She looked down again, “Mum always used to tell me that he got hit by a car, and nobody was there. She always wished there was someone there with him,”

“Be careful what you wish for,” I muttered, looking down at all the levers and buttons on the console. I didn’t press anything, though. It would be extremely awkward if we did land on Earth only to find out there were two dimensional creatures- and run into a grumpy old Scotsman who was stuck in a tiny TARDIS while Clara Oswald pretended to be the Doctor of lies. Or even worse, land in the UNIT headquarters and find Chinny, Sandshoes, and Grandad. 

“I wanna be that person, so he doesn’t die alone,” 

“You’ve gotta be careful, though,” I looked up at Rose, “You’re gonna see your dad die- it’s gonna be hard. Are you sure you wanna see him?” 

She scowled at me and folded her hands, “Of course I am, how old d’you think I am, five?” 

I raised my hands up and went to stand next to the Doctor, “I just gave you a piece of advice, don’t say I didn’t warn you,” 

“November the seventh?” The Doctor looked at Rose. She nodded, “1987,” 

I grabbed onto the console, preparing to almost get thrown across the room as the Doctor flicked on a few switches. “Anything I can do?” 

“Press those buttons over there,” He pointed toward a few colourful buttons near me. “The red one too?” 

“No, the other ones,” 

“Okay,” I pouted, but pressed the blue, yellow, and green buttons, and held onto the console as the Doctor pulled a lever. The TARDIS jolted, and started rocking harder than she usually did, almost throwing the Doctor away as he tried to press something. 

She hummed loudly, lighting up and turning the lights off in random places, almost like she was throwing a tantrum. I slipped, and fell back. I screamed, and held onto the railing behind me. Rose was yelling as she was about to get pushed off too, while the Doctor tried his best to walk around the console. “What’s with you today?”

I linked my arm through the railing as one of my hands started slipping, and the TARDIS tilted to the other side, making me face the console. The TARDIS whined and screeched as the Doctor tried his best to land it. 

I yelled even louder as I was about to fall back and get thrown into the wall. “What is wrong with her?!” Rose exclaimed. 

“I don’t think she wants to land wherever we wanna go!” 

“Really, I thought she was just feeling adventurous today because the Doctor rubbed off on her!” 

“Can you both not argue with each other for five minutes?!” The Doctor yelled, running around the console (or stumbling around, the TARDIS really seemed to hate him at this point), and looked at me, “Hang on, you’ll fall down once the TARDIS lands,”

“Oh, how comforting,” I muttered, and looked up at him, “You mean if we land- the TARDIS really seems to want to go somewhere else!”

“No way, we’re going, and the TARDIS will land!” Rose yelled. 

“I really don’t think we have a vote on that!” 

“Both of you!” The Doctor looked at the two of us as the TARDIS lurched again, and I had to hold onto the railing tighter to prevent myself from falling off and breaking my face. 

After a few torturous twists and turns, we finally landed with a thud, and I fell back to the other side of the railing. “Oh, brilliant,” I muttered, and tried to climb across the railing to reach the console. 

“So, are you ready?” The Doctor looked at Rose, who was taking a deep breath. She nodded, and the Doctor looked around, “Where’s Liza?” 

“I’m right here, idiot,” I climbed up the railing and flipped across, scowling at him. “This was probably the worst TARDIS ride ever.” 

He ignored me as he stepped out of the TARDIS after Rose. I smoothed out my hair and scowled at the TARDIS, who gave me a protesting hum. “Okay, I know you don’t like this, but news flash- neither do I. And unfortunately, there’s nothing either of us can do about it so I think it’s just best if we get it over with. Deal?” 

She hummed again and I smiled at her. “I’ll see you later, okay?” 

I walked out of the TARDIS, only to find the Doctor and Rose standing a little way away. “..I thought it would be all, sort of grim and stormy. But it’s just an ordinary day.” 

“The past is another country. 1987 is just the Isle of Wight.” I went to stand next to the Doctor. “So that means you’ve gone on a whole world tour then.” 

“Maybe, maybe not.” He shrugged and looked down at Rose, his face becoming serious again. “You sure about this?” 

“Yeah.” Rose said. I looked at her. “Seriously, though, this is gonna be difficult and I know what happens. Just- don’t try to change anything no matter how tempting it is.” 

Rose nodded. “Why would I? The Doctor’s already lectured me about fixed points or whatever.” 

I nodded, and bit my lip. “Just make sure you absolutely don’t change anything under any circumstances.” 

“Alright, I won’t. I swear.” She rolled her eyes and walked forward. I shook my head and folded my hands, breathing out. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up, only to be face-to-face with the Doctor. “Whatever happens, it’s happening because it should.” 

“Yeah, but this is bad even in your standards.”

“Well, nothing can be as bad as Van Statten now, can it?” Images of the series finale, Doomsday, Daleks in Manhattan, The Last of the Time Lords, Journey’s End, The Angels Take Manhattan, Death in Heaven, Hell Bent, and The Doctor Falls ran through my head. “You really don’t wanna know. This is you we’re talking about.”  
~~~~  
The three of us stood by the street Pete Tyler had died in- or the street Pete Tyler will die in, in about a few minutes. I stood beside Rose while the Doctor stood on her other side. She took my hand and I squeezed it. “This is it. Jordan Road. He was late. He’d been to get a wedding present. A vase. Mum always said, that stupid vase.” 

A green car came into the street, Pete Tyler inside it. Rose took a deep breath and stiffened. “He got out of his car and crossed the road.” Pete Tyler got the vase out of his car and was about to step out. “Oh God this is it,” I tightened my grip around her hand and she gripped mine. 

Just as he got out of the car with the vase and turned around, another car came into the street at full speed. I squeezed my eyes shut as the car sped up. I bit my lip, refusing to open my eyes. The vase shattered and Pete Tyler fell. I slowly opened my eyes as the Doctor muttered, “Go to him. Quick.” 

But she just stood there, holding our hands, frozen. I took a deep breath and bit the inside of my cheek, trying my best to not look at Pete’s body and the shattered remains of the vase.   
~~~~  
“It’s too late now,” We were all standing against a wall in an alley nearby, Rose standing beside the Doctor while I was on his other side. People had found Pete- the ambulance had gotten there and- Pete was dead. “By the time the ambulance got there he was dead,”

She then looked up at him and my eyes widened slightly. This was it. I bit my lip as she said, “He can’t die on his own,”

“Everyone faces death on their own,” I murmured, remembering the quote from Face the Raven. “You’re just gonna have to be brave,”

“Easier said than done,” Rose snapped, and I took a deep breath. Things were gonna go downhill really fast if I didn’t do anything. She looked at the Doctor again, “Can I try again?” 

If she did, well- everything goes absolutely bonkers and she’d just end up becoming more hurt at the end of all the events. But it wouldn’t make her feel bad now, would it? What about the future, then? Pete will die again- and she would be even more hurt- she’d know him better this time. I took a deep breath. “Rose, I’m sorry, but you trying again-”

“What, the episode consequences would be huge or something?” She raised an eyebrow at me. 

“No,” I shook my head, “Well, yes, but that’s not what I’m trying to say. The point is, it’s gonna hurt much more the second time around, and, well, I can’t reveal much, but we’re much better off without the events that are about to happen,”

“Why can’t you, though? You’ve been going all Little Miss Know it all with us and with all your ominous warnings about the future, but why can’t you tell us what happens so that we can avoid it?” She straightened up from her position and scowled at me. 

“Rose, that’s not how it works-”

“Then how does it work? You keep warning us about impending doom and we just listen despite not knowing anything while you keep prattling on about some far fetched clue?” 

“Rose, that’s not what I’m trying to tell you-”

“Will the two of you stop it?” My head snapped up to look at the Doctor, who was glaring at us back and forth. “Enough with your fighting, honestly,” He turned to me, his gaze still hard, “Liza, do we or do we not come here again?” 

“Did you even listen to a single word I said about the consequences of doing this?” 

“Do we or do we not, Liza, nothing else,” 

I sighed and looked down. "Yeah, Rose gets a second chance at this, but-" 

"Nope, not having any of that. If she had a second chance, she had a second chance. No ifs and no buts and definitely no future warnings." He straightened up from the wall and turned toward the direction of the TARDIS. "Rose, Liza, come on, we're going to come here again."   
~~~~


	13. The TARDIS is the same size everywhere

We walked toward Jordan Road, hiding behind the wall. The past versions of the Doctor, Rose and I were standing in front of the road as they were waiting for Pete’s car to come. “Right, that’s the first us. It’s a terrible idea, two sets of us being here at the same time,” 

I opened my mouth to say that we could just turn around and leave, but he put a hand up, “I know you’re gonna suggest we turn back, Liza, but we let whatever happen happen properly. If he’s attacked by Cybermen in the middle of the whole thing and has his death prevented, we let it happen.”

“Well, that’s-”

“What did I tell you about sneak previews? Anyway, Rose, like I was saying, just be careful that they don’t see us. Wait till she runs off and till they follow, then go to your dad.” 

I took a deep breath as the car came into the street, The Doctor hadn’t listened to me- we were in for a horrible ‘adventure’ whose outcome I knew and they didn’t even bother listening to me. Absolutely brilliant. 

The car stopped and Pete was looking for the vase. “Oh God this is it,” Past Rose said, and present Rose said, “I can’t do this.” 

“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, but this is the last time we can be here,” 

The silver car came into the road as Pete was about to get off. This is it. Rose suddenly ran toward her father, successfully ignoring literally everything the Doctor and I had warned her against. The Doctor stepped forward, “Rose, no!” 

“No point in doing that, it’ll be too late by the time you try to stop her,” I muttered, inaudible even to the Doctor (hopefully, the guy had Super Time Lord hearing abilities). 

Rose caught Pete and pulled him out of the car’s way, saving his life while the past versions of us disintegrated. I shook my head as the two of them slowly got up. “I did it, I saved your life,” 

Pete slowly stood up and looked around at the car. “Blimey, did you see the speed of it? Did you get his number?” 

I shook my head as the Doctor looked at me. “This was what was gonna be happening?” 

I nodded. “I’m literally this close to screaming ‘I told you so’, but that’s not gonna make things any better so I’m refraining from it,” I looked up at his scowl. He shook his head and looked back at Rose and Pete, who were talking. 

“That’s a great name. Good choice. Well done,” Rose smiled. I pressed my lips together and ran a hand through my hair. 

The Doctor inhaled sharply beside me. “Why would she even do that? I offer her all of time and space, and now she causes a paradox,” 

I shrugged, “I don’t know, maybe because you actually agreed to come back here despite me clearly telling you to avoid this because with the other option, time can be rewritten in a less universe-threatening way?” 

“We’re facing a catastrophe and you’re more concerned about passive aggression. Typical ape behaviour.” He folded his hands and scowled. 

I imitated him and leaned against the wall. “We’re facing a catastrophe and you’re more concerned about insulting other species. Typical Doctor behaviour.” 

Rose looked back at us, and I grinned and waved awkwardly, as I knew that the Doctor was probably glaring daggers at her- just to neutralise the effect- although I’m pretty sure that just made things worse. I, for one, would appreciate something comedic beside a glaring Doctor, because, well, the only thing scarier than angry Nine was angry Eleven- and well, nobody would want to be on the receiving end of either of those two cases- but I didn’t know if Rose would.  
~~~~  
I adjusted my ponytail as Pete invited us into his house. “Right, there we go, sorry about the mess. If you want tea, the kitchen's down there,” He pointed in the direction of the kitchen, “Milk’s in the fridge,” He turned to us, “Well, it would be, wouldn’t it? Where else would you put the milk? Mind you, there’s always the windowsill outside. I always thought if someone made a windowsill with compartments, you know, one for milk, one for yogurt- make a lot of money out of that. Sell it to students and things. I should write that down-” I couldn’t help but smile at Pete’s rambling- reminded me too much of a specific Time Lord who was having a grumpathon at the moment (for good reason, but it was still a grumpathon-). “Anyway, never mind that,”

He nodded and was about to walk into the other room, “Excuse me, I should go and change.” He walked into the other room as Rose went to the dining room, me following her. I looked back at the Doctor, who was glaring at Rose. I frowned and motioned for him to come, and walked off. 

“All the stuff Mum kept. His stuff,” She picked up a trophy and looked at it, before putting it back again, “She kept it all packed away in boxes in the cupboard. She used to show me when she had a bit to drink.” She smiled, nodding at the stuff, “Here it is, on display. Where it should be.” 

I smiled at her and looked back at the Doctor, who was still glaring at her. I raised my eyebrows and gestured to her but he still continued to glara. I shook my head and turned back to Rose, who was now showing us a bowling trophy. “Third prize at the bowling. First two got to go to Didcot.” 

She then looked down at a crate which had two plastic cartons in it and bent down to see them. “Health drinks! Tonics, Mum used to call them. He made his money selling this Vitex stuff. He had all sorts of jobs, he was so clever.” 

I shrugged, “You know, the way you talk about him, he kinda reminds me of someone,” I subtly nodded at the Doctor, and she grinned. The Doctor, however, didn't notice as he was too busy staring at Rose with a blank look. 

She then went to look at some blueprints on the table. “Solar power. Mum said he was gonna do this,” She straightened up and looked at us, “Now he can.” 

I looked back at the Doctor, who was still staring at her with the same expression he’d been having since Rose saved Pete. Rose, who seemed to think that it was something else that was bothering him, said, “Alright, I’ll tell him that you’re not my boyfriend,” I shook my head at her warningly. 

“When we met, I said ‘Travel with me in space’, you said ‘No’. Then I said ‘Time Machine’.” I shook my head and pretended to be interested in one of Pete’s bowling trophies while listening to their argument. 

“It wasn’t some big plan. I saw it happening and I thought, ‘I can stop it’.” Rose shook her head as I ‘inspected’ a bowling trophy, turning it around in my hands. 

The Doctor shook his head and smiled hollowly. “I did it again. I picked another stupid ape. I should’ve known. It’s not about showing you the universe, it never is. It’s about the universe doing something for you.”

“So it’s okay when you go to other times and you save people’s lives but not when it’s me saving my dad.” 

“I know what I’m doing, you don’t! Two sets of us being there made it a vulnerable point.”

“But he’s alive!” 

“My entire planet died! My whole family! Do you think it never occurred to me to go back and save them?” 

I put the trophy I was examining down and went to stand next to the two of them. “Will the two of you shut up! There’s a lot I have to say to both of you, honestly, and that you should’ve listened to me first but the damage is already done, so here goes-” I turned to Rose, who was staring at me agape. I took a deep breath. “Rose, we’re time travellers. We make ripples, not tidal waves, and what you did today was a huge tidal wave- but it can be fixed and the important thing is that you don’t do something like this from now on.” 

I turned to the Doctor, who was still having the same blank expression. “Doctor, I swear- okay, well, there’s a lot that she did wrong, but she’s not an experienced time traveller-” 

“You started travelling with me after she did and even you’re more careful with paradoxes!” 

“I’ve seen enough of the show to know what’s right and what isn’t!”

“It doesn’t matter! Everyone knows that time travel has consequences and that even the smallest change could ruin everything!” He turned to Rose, who was glaring at him. “Seriously, though, even Liza’s got more common sense than you and she eats ice cream for breakfast!” 

I honestly didn’t know whether to take that as an insult or a compliment, but I pretended to ignore the comment because we had bigger problems at hand. 

“Honestly, I get it! For once, you’re not the most important man in my life! And I don’t even see why you should be so bothered since Liza’s the most important person in your life!” 

I looked up at the two of them and frowned, “That is so untrue, what were you even thinking?!” 

“Have you seen how he acts around you, honestly!” 

“No, you’re misinterpreting this-” 

The Doctor held his hand out to Rose, “You really think that’s why? Let’s see how you get on without me, then, give me the key.” Rose hesitated. “The TARDIS key. If I’m so insignificant, then give it back to me.” 

I let out a huge breath, “Seriously, do we have to do this-”

“Yes, Liza, we should.” He turned back to Rose, who scowled at him. “Alright then, I will.” She pulled her key out of her pocket and gave it to him. 

“You’ve got what you wanted, so goodbye, then. Liza, you coming?”

I threw my hands up as he walked toward the door, “Do we seriously have to do this? We’ve got bigger problems to deal with!” Which could’ve been avoided easily if you idiots would’ve listened to me. 

But as usual, they ignored me as they kept shouting at each other, The Doctor pulling me out of the house as Rose slammed the door shut.   
~~~~  
“Seriously? You didn’t even make an effort to set things right and you’re just leaving her with a paradox to deal with?!” I scowled at the Doctor as we walked on the sidewalk to go to the TARDIS. 

“She caused it, she deals with it, not our problem,” He shrugged and walked forward. I walked faster to catch up with him. “One, can you stop walking so fast, I literally need to run and catch up, and two, you’re the one with a strict motto that we don’t walk away when people are in trouble!” 

“I also have a motto of not interfering in events and just being a witness!” We turned into the alley near Jordan Road where we parked the TARDIS, and the Doctor reached into his pockets for his keys. 

“No you don’t, that’s just some sort of a nonsensical ruse! You’re the Doctor, you’ll literally turn back and save all of reality just because a child starts crying!” 

The Doctor turned around, scowling. “No, I won’t! The Doctor you know is gone! He died in the Time War and you’re stuck with me now! We’re leaving in the TARDIS- or at least I am, you’re welcome to stay back if you want to, although I can’t see why.”

He walked forward toward the TARDIS, and I shook my head as I followed. If I remembered correctly, something happens to the TARDIS and we wouldn’t be able to leave because of that. “But you can’t leave in the TARDIS!” 

“Yes I can,” He put the key into the keyhole and turned it, and the click of the door unlocking sounded. “This is me leaving in the TARDIS and you’re welcome to come as well if you like.” 

He opened the doors and went in, but came out again almost immediately, his eyes wide and frantic. “But- it’s-”

I raised my eyebrows and walked toward him. He pulled me along and pointed at the TARDIS- or, well, what used to be the TARDIS, since there was nothing inside anymore. “That’s what I said. You can’t leave in the TARDIS because it’s not there anymore.” 

“But- that’s- it’s”- He then looked at me, his eyes wide. “Paradox- time going all wrong because a dead man isn’t dead anymore- Rose!" He grabbed my hand and ran back in the direction of where we came from. “Wrong way, she’s at the church!”

He dragged me along with him as he made a bunch of quick turns, me stumbling along the way like a bumbling idiot. I couldn't ask him to be a little more careful- that would mean going slower and well, we couldn't afford to do that, especially judging by the fact that the love of the Doctor's life was in danger. 

For one, I was basically living every Doctor Who fan's dream, but, to be honest, running for your life (or well, Rose's life, in this case) is zero fun whatsoever. My legs hurt, my hair was blowing all over my face, and I skipped breakfast for three episodes in a row. But we had to run- Rose was in danger and if anything happened to her, it would devastate the Doctor. 

After a few painful minutes of running, we reached the church where the two people Rose said were getting married. Rose was looking at Pete and Jackie, who seemed to be arguing about something. The Doctor let go of my hand as he ran toward Rose. “Rose!” 

She turned around, a smug look on her face- which disappeared the moment she saw the two of us basically barrelling toward her like we were being chased by a horde of three-headed CyberDaleks. “Get into the church!” 

She looked up, where a monster was materialising. “Don’t look at that, just run, for God’s sake!” I yelled, as the bat-like creature became visible and screeched. Rose screamed as she saw it, and the Doctor ran even faster as it flew toward her and pushed her out of the way. 

I came to a screeching halt and ducked (in possibly the most embarrassing way possible, but since the other alternative was dying, it wasn’t that bad honestly) as the thing flew above me. I fell to the ground and stood up as the Doctor started yelling at everyone to get into the church. 

But, well, that just caused even more commotion since more of the bat thingies materialised and everyone started screaming, increasing the chaos. The creatures swooped down and everyone panicked even more. “Get in the church, they’re weak around old stuff!” I yelled, pushing through the crowd to stand in front of everyone. People were gonna die- I didn’t remember whom, but they were, and I had to prevent that from happening. 

“She’s right, in the church!” The Doctor yelled,

One of the creatures swooped down toward us. “Sarah!” A guy wearing a grey suit yelled, running toward us, but the Doctor held a hand out, “Stay inside!” 

The creature turned around and was about to head off to kill one of the people there- or at least that’s what I vaguely remembered. I stepped forward and ran toward the creature. “Liza, what the hell do you think you’re doing?!” The Doctor yelled from behind me. 

The creature turned around and flew toward me, screeching. I screamed and ran away, trying to keep it chasing me and not pay attention to the rest of the people. “Liza!” The Doctor and Rose screamed, and I ducked, the creature flying almost directly above me. 

Adrenaline was flowing through my head, clouding everything else that was going on. I couldn’t feel anything except for the pounding in my head, and was about to run off again, but the creature turned around and flew toward the church again. “No- what? That’s not supposed to be happening, you’re supposed to be following me!” I yelled, and ran behind the thing, trying to get it’s attention. 

I ran back toward the Doctor and Rose, who were right behind the creature, which attacked a man on the ground and devoured him. “No!” I screamed, amidst several dozen people. The creatures seemed to be distracted enough, and the Doctor seemed to notice as well. 

He pointed toward the church, “In! Everybody!” 

This time, nobody disagreed, and everyone rushed toward the church doors, as the last creature seemed to fly down and swoop toward us. I ran in behind everybody, checking to make sure everyone was safe inside before running in myself (or, well, being shoved in by the Doctor). 

The Doctor came in last, and just as the other creature was plunging at us, he slammed the doors shut and locked them. 

I turned around, breathing heavily. Everyone was in a panic, talking amongst themselves or using their phones to call for help. I looked at the windows, frowning as the creatures outside continued screeching and flying around. Someone grabbed my hand, and I turned around to see that it was the Doctor, who didn't even seem to react to whatever he was doing as he looked around the place. “They can’t get in. Old windows and doors. Okay, the older something is, the stronger it is. What else?” 

My eyes widened and I nudged the Doctor. He looked toward the window as one of those creatures flew across, screeching. The Doctor let go of my hand and turned to the others. "Go and check the other doors! Move!"   
~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Okay, this is definitely a heart attack moment for all of you here- I've updated on two consecutive days for the first time in Rassilon knows how long. Also, I haven't referenced the Capaldi era in this one at all (Massive lie, there's one reference, guess where it is)! 
> 
> Anyway, I think this is a bit shorter than the others (maybe, maybe not), but it's above 2.5k words, so ig I'm happy about that- idk why I said that but if you guys feel like it's shorter- I'm sorry. 
> 
> Looks like Liza’s got a bit reckless- and two 'I told you so' moments in the span of an afternoon- what do you guys think? Please let me know, and I really hope I can update this often in the near future!


	14. Arguments, arguments, and ooh, was that an argument?

I ran toward the other doors to help as Jackie ran behind the Doctor, bumping into me in the process. 

"What's happening? What are they? What are they?!" She grabbed his arm and he shook it off, moving to the next door. "There's been an accident in time, a wound in time. They're like bacteria taking advantage." He locked the other door, moving on. 

"What'd ya mean, time? What are you jabbering on about time?" She glared at him and I sighed. 

"Jackie, I know you're confused, but we have no time for-"

The Doctor interrupted me and glared at Jackie, "Oh, I might have known you'd argue. Jackie, I'm sick of you complaining." 

"How'd you know my name?" Jackie demanded, and the Doctor rolled his eyes. "Spoilers- I haven't got the time for this," 

"I've never met you in my life!" I went to lock a couple of doors as Jackie was arguing with the Doctor, who seemed to get more annoyed. "Noa and you never will unless I sort this out. Now if you don't mind, and I've waited a long time to say this-"

I smiled and bent down to hide it, as I mouthed, "Jackie Tyler, do as I say," along with him. I looked back up as he pointed toward the back doors, "Now go and check the doors." 

Jackie sighed. "Yes sir," She walked toward the doors and he grinned, turning toward me, as a man, I think his name was Stuart- walked toward him. "Should've said that ages ago."

"Pity you didn't," I muttered, and went to check the doors on the other side of the main entrance. I locked all the doors on that side and went back to the Doctor to see if there was something else I could do to help, and heard him talking about the creatures outside. "...Time's been damaged and they've come to sterilise the wound. By consuming everything inside." 

He looked down at Rose as I walked toward the two of them. "Is this because?" Rose asked tentatively, "Is this all my fault?" 

I shook my head and muttered, "Don't mean to be blunt, but it's totally your fault- although the Doctor had a part to play in it- and me too, I was terrible at convincing you guys to not come here." 

Rose didn't seem to hear me as I was standing next to the Doctor and muttering really softly, but the Doctor did, and he frowned at me. I shrugged and looked back at Rose. "Doesn't matter whose fault it is, honestly. We just need to fix everything before things get too late." 

Rose nodded and looked at me and the Doctor. "Anything I can do to help?"

"Go and check the doors at the moment- maybe the back doors all the way there- Liza needs to tell me all the possible ways to fix this," The Doctor pointed at the back of the church, in the opposite direction of where we were. Rose frowned and I looked up. "She does?" 

"I am?" I raised my eyebrows at him and he nodded. "Yes! You're the only one who knows what the hell's going on and I know for sure that you know the solution to this whole mess,"

"But weren't you the one who was all 'no spoilers whatsoever' literally an hour ago?"

"Yeah, but I underestimated the situation then, I estimate it correctly now so I need your help, and Rose needs to check the doors."

"Why can't she help too?" 

"Yeah, Doctor, why can't I help too?" Rose scowled at the two of us and he shrugged. "Well, one, this whole mess is your fault, and two, you need to go and talk to your dad! You were so bent on doing that some time ago, weren't you?" 

Rose scowled at him and I looked up again, "Hold up. I thought we clearly established that this whole situation is because of all of us and nobody is to blame alone?"

The Doctor frowned at me and threw his hands up. "Oi, we weren't the ones who fractured all of time by preventing a fixed point from happening!" 

Rose glared at the Doctor. "Oh, great, blame me for the whole situation!"

"You were the one who asked if it was your fault!"

"Guys, guys, guys, guys, guys-" I threw my hands up. "Might I remind you that we're potentially about to be erased from existence because some time bacteria things are planning on sterilizing the universe by destroying it? We can deal with whatever the hell this is later, now let's all just focus on defending the church!" 

Rose opened her mouth to say something, but the Doctor interrupted her. "She's right. We'll talk about this later, yeah? Now go and check the doors, I'll be there as soon as I think up a solution." 

"And I'll check the doors on that side if you guys need me," I walked toward the other side of the church before anyone else could say anything.

~~~~

I locked up another door as the Doctor literally almost barrelled into me. "Liza, question!" 

I moved away as quickly as possible to avoid being pushed down and falling flat on my face. "Okay, what;s got you so excited all of a sudden?" 

"The car outside- the one that just disappeared- and I'm assuming you know what the hell I'm talking about because this is an episode and you're basically omniscient when it comes to these-"

"I'm pretty sure I'm not, and yes, I know about the car you're talking about."

"I have some sort of a hunch right now, and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong- actually please correct me if I'm wrong- but Pete, he has to go in front of it, right?"

I bent my head down and bit my lip. He put a hand on my shoulders and I looked up. "No and yes. There's another solution, and I hope to God that we can use that one because the other option is what you just said, and I'd like to avoid that as much as possible." Despite the fact that that's what really happens in cannon, but the Doctor really doesn't need to know that. 

"Okay, what solution?"

"I don't think I can tell you everything, but I can say that it involves something in your pocket." 

He grinned hollowly and threw his hands up. "Something inside my pockets. Something inside my bigger on the inside pockets. The pockets where I've keps stuff I don't even remember. Fat load of help you are." 

"You're a Time Lord who claims to have twenty seven brains, so kindly use them and figure it out. Also, just because I'm a nice person and also because we're running out of time- no pun intended- it involves heat." 

"But so did the last episode! How the hell am I supposed to make sense of what you just said?" 

I shrugged and was about to walk away when he grabbed my arm. "I need you to help me with something, and I'm sure you've bolted every door in this area seven times each."

He pulled me along with him as I muttered about how much he was exaggerating, and jumped as something banged against the door nearby. I grabbed onto the Doctor's arm and he pulled me closer slightly. "Don't worry, they can't get in now that we've locked the doors." 

I nodded, still a little uncomfortable, but let go of his arm and walked along with him to the main altar. 

~~~~

"Alright, I need you to lock all the doors here and I'm going to sonic-seal all of them just to save time and to be on the safe side." He pulled open some curtains to reveal more doors. 

"How many doors does this place even have?" I muttered, and went on to lock them as the sonic buzzed behind me, the Doctor sealed everything. 

"Excuse me, Mister and Liza- is that your name? I heard him call you that, so-"

I turned away from the door I just locked and smiled, "Yeah, that's my name."

"And my name is 'Doctor'," The Doctor turned to him. 

"Yeah, Doctor- you both seem to know what's going on."

The Doctor snorted. "Her, yeah, because she does, but me? I'm still getting around the general idea." 

"Can you save us?" The woman- Sarah, I think her name was, interrupted, and the Doctor raised an eyebrow at them. He walked toward them and I followed, after locking another door that was nearby. 

"Who are you two, then?"

"Stuart Hoskins."

"Sarah Clark." 

The Doctor looked down at Sarah's stomach and muttered, "And one extra. Boy or girl?"

Sarah put a hand on her stomach and smiled at it before turning to us. "I don't know. I don't want to know, really."

"How did this all get started?" The Doctor smiled at the two of them. They both smiled at each other before turning to us. 

"Outside the Beatbox Club, two in the morning."

"Best time of the day, in my opinion." I smiled, and the Doctor shook his head. "This one's got the most inconsistent sleep schedule in the history of everything in all of time and space." 

Sarah laughed, and said, "Street corner. I'd lost my purse, didn't have money for a taxi." 

"I took her home."

"And what? Asked her on a date?" The Doctor grinned, raising his eyebrows.

"Wrote his number in the back of my hand." Sarah nodded, blushing a bit. 

Stuart smiled at her, "Never got rid of her since. My dad said-" 

The two of them paused and glanced at each other. I closed my eyes and bit the inside of my lip as one of the creatures outside shrieked (I'd conveniently forgotten what the hell they were called as usual, judging by the fact that this was another episode I'd only seen once). "Look, I don't know what this is about, and I know we're not important-" Sarah looked close to tears, but she swallowed and held them back as much as possible. 

"Who said you're not important?" The Doctor asked incredulously. "Honestly, you're acting like this one-" He nodded at me and I scowled at him. "Excuse me?"

He looked down at me. "Oh, come on, we both know it's true-" He turned back to Stuart and Sarah, "Anyway, back to the point. I've travelled to many places, done things you could never even imagine- but you two. Street corner, two in the morning, getting a taxi home. I've never had a life like that."

He looked at them sincerely and smiled, "Yes. I'll save you." 

They smiled at him and Sarah looked close to tears. Stuart held her hand and looked at the two of us. "Thank you so much,"

I smiled at them. "Any time."

"Anyway, how did you two meet?" Sarah looked at the two of us. I looked up at the Doctor and burst into laughter and he grinned. "He literally just appeared out of nowhere when my best friend almost got killed by a mirror-"

"Yeah, she was cross with me that day. Yelled a lot, called me a broody teenager, the usual. And now I don't wanna get rid of her at all."

Sarah and Stuart gaspd. "Was your friend alright, though?" 

I smiled at them. "Yeah, she was. We saved her, but only after I yelled at him and we got into a huge argument." 

"So, is this what you both do? Travel around and follow disaster?"

I shrugged and tilted my chin. "Well, sort of? I don't know, honestly, this guy is an automatic disaster magnet and by disaster, I mean potentially world threatening all the time." 

Stuart and Sarah exchanged a glance and stared at us, amazed. "So you're both like superheroes, then- saving the world everywhere you go."

The Doctor and I started denying that immediately- talking over each other and bumping hands as we threw them about.

~~~~

After we finally locked/sealed the doors of the church and literally made the place more defended than a fortress, the Doctor dragged me along with him to go and meet baby Rose ("Come on, you'll love her, it'll be like talking to a human puppy, and I know you love puppies!"). 

"Hi honey!" I smiled at baby Rose, who looked at me, wide-eyed. "Yeah, I know, you're probably like 'Who are these people and why are they staring at me?'- I'm Liza, and this is the Doctor. You'll meet us in the future, and I know you're gonna enjoy that!"

The Doctor grinned at me and looked back at Rose. "Yeah, and we're trying to fix a potentially catastrophic situation. Now, Rose, you're not gonna bring about the end of the world, are you?" She cooed and he leaned in, "Are you?"

Rose just stared at him, her eyes wide, and I smacked his arm. "I think you're scaring her with all the 'end of the world' stuff."

"No, she finds it exciting, wondering why and how she did that because she was here the whole time." He looked up and said that as if it was the most obvious thing in the whole world. 

I shrugged, "I don't know, I'm not the one who speaks baby here," I turned to Rose and started speaking in a baby voice. "But if you really said that, well, spoilers, as Auntie bushy blonde always says," 

"One, never speak like that again because you sound like an idiot, even though Rose seems to think it's funny, and two, who the hell is Auntie bushy blonde? You;re a brunette, and your hair is far from bushy." I smirked at him as he raised his eyebrows and looked more confused than ever. "One, I'm offended, and two, spoilers."

At that moment, Rose came walking to us and stood beside us, looking at herself. I looked up at her, "You know, according to the Doctor, baby you seems to be extremely excited about the end of the world."

"And how the hell does he know that?"

"He speaks baby."

"No he doesn't."

"Oi!" The Doctor looked up, offended, "I speak everything! Anyway, Jackie gave her to us to look after. How times change." 

"No pun intended." I muttered, and he grinned at that. 

Rose looked at us and smiled to herself. "I'd better be careful. I think I just imprinted myself on Mickey like a mother chicken." 

"The love that spans across all time-" I muttered, "Has a nice ring to it."

Rose reached out to touch baby Rose, and the Doctor pushed her away as I slowly pulled the baby holder thing away from her. The creatures outside shrieked outside, almost like they wanted this to happen. 

The Doctor looked at adult Rose warningly. "No, don't touch the baby. You're both the same person. That's a paradox, and we don't want a paradox happening, not with those things outside." 

"But like, isn't this already a paradox?" I asked him, "You know, we've changed the events of Pete's death and he's not dead anymore, so Rose wouldn't ask to see him before he died and this won't happen- you know what I mean, time's really confusing."

"Yeah, but a paradox within a paradox- the ultimate all-you-can-eat buffet for those things," He pointed toward a stained glass window, where a creature flew across, screeching. "Anything new, any disturbance in time makes them stronger. A paradox-" He noticed the look on my face and rolled his eyes, "Okay, a paradox within a paradox might let them in."

"I wasn't trying to correct you, genius," I muttered, and looked back at baby Rose, who was looking at our exchange, interested. 

"I know that, genius." He shot back, turning to Rose, and I snorted. Yeah, as if. 

"I can't do anything right, can I?" Rose snapped.

I didn't know what to say- part of me wanted to be blunt, but the other part disagreed. The Doctor, however, seemed unbothered as he just gave his answer directly. "Since you ask, no, so don't touch the baby." 

"I'm not stupid!" Rose snapped, and I sighed, burying my face in my hands as I knew that another argument was gonna ensue. 

"You could've fooled me." The Doctor replied in the same tone, and I sighed again, sliding my hands up my face and running them through my hair, which probably looked like a terrible mess. "Guys, please, not now." 

The Doctor looked at me and back at Rose. "Alright, I'm sorry. I wasn't really gonna leave you on your own." 

"I know."

"Between the three of us, though, I haven't got a plan, except for Liza's vague clues-"

"Which you conveniently didn't work out-"

"Excuse me while I was trying to defend the place and take care of a baby here." 

"Why are the two of you arguing now?" Rose scowled at us and looked at me accusingly. "You were the one who told us to stop fighting."

"Excuse me, have you met the two of us?" The Doctor gestured to the two of us, "This is how we normally talk! If one of us is being nice to the other, that means we've screwed up big time and want to butter the other one up to deliver the bad news!" 

I nodded, "You know, come to think of it, I agree."

"For the first time in the history of all of time and space, Liza Cole agrees with me. The historians will have a heart attack!"

"The historians will have a heart attack!" I mimicked him and rolled my eyes. "You think you're so funny."

"Doctor, clues, plan!" Rose urged, and I nodded. "Yeah, you better work on that- also, if you want another hint, you took the thing I'm talking about back from Rose recently."

"What, the TARDIS key?" He raised an eyebrow. He then put his hands in his pockets to pull it out and flinched, pulling his hand back and throwing it on the ground. "Heat- that's what you meant! I was thinking it was the central heating again!" He grinned at me and then turned to Rose as he pulled off his jacket to reveal a green sweater underneath. 

He bent down and reached for the TARDIS key, wrapping it in his jacket. "It's telling me it's still connected to the TARDIS!" 

I bent down next to him and smiled at his expression- which was a huge childlike grin. "Speaking of, I think she's gonna be really mad at the three of us when we get back to her after this mess." 

The Doctor shuddered, "Oh, I dread to think- she'll end up pushing us all into the swimming pool and dump flour all over us the moment we step out." 

"You're saying it like it's happened to you before." Rose said, and he looked at her. "Who said it's not?" 

I gaped at him and he grinned at me. "You might want to contain your shock to yourself- it's much worse than you imagine." 

I shrugged, and turned back to the key. "Anyway, your plan- we've still got a world to save if we need Sexy to be safe and sound." 

"Oi! Only I call her that!"

~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Boy, do I love writing people arguing/ I have no idea why, but I do- especially when it's like a really snarky, sarcastic kind of a thing with two extremely sassy people lol. Also, I've updated for three consecutive days! *cue to Weeping Angels never scaring me anymore while Daleks become cute cuddly pandas*
> 
> Anyway, this chapter was heavy on dialogue and I was doing a writing sprint with Abbie Emmons (a YouTuber- check her out, she's amazing and has the world's best writing advice imo) which could probably be how tf I'm actually updating again. Anyway, the next chapter is gonna be the final one for this episode, and I'm debating on whether or not I should add an original one next (although there's a huge chance I might) and after that- THE EMPTY CHILD! I can't wait for Jack to come into the picture, and I swear I'm really going to enjoy writing him (and hopefully not butcher his character). 
> 
> Anyway, It;s like 2AM rn and I have a really messed up sleep schedule and zero rerets about that, so ig this is me signing off!


	15. The Consequences of Changing Cannon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Okay, so this is a chapter where things get a little, er- repetitive (best thing to say without revealing much), but I would advice you all to read each repetition carefully so as to not miss any details. Anyway, now that that's sorted, happy reading!

"The inside of my ship was thrown out of the wound, but we can use this to bring it back." He lifted up the TARDIS key in his jacket. The Doctor was standing on the altar in the pulpit, looking like a college professor about to present a slideshow. "And once I've gotten my ship back, I can mend everything. Now, I just need a bit of power. Anybody got a battery?"

Stuart got up from his seat and lifted his dad's phone. "This one big enough?"

The Doctor grinned and ran down the stairs, "Fantastic!" He ran down the stairs to Stuart, who handed him the battery from the phone.

"Good old Dad. There you go," The Doctor took the battery from him. I looked over at Rose and Pete, who were sitting next to each other. Rose was gonna touch baby Rose- and the Doctor would go poof if that happened. Don''t let Rose touch the baby.

I bit my lip and crossed one leg over the other as the Doctor soniced the battery. "Just need to do a bit of charging up and we can bring everyone back." He walked around, charging up the battery with his sonic, and I still looked at Rose and Pete, who were talking. I had to keep the baby away from Rose.

I stared around everywhere, mainly at Pete and Rose, who were having their conversation where Rose was trying to lie to him. I swallowed, my heart rate increasing. At least this time, I had to work something out and stop the horrible stuff from happening.

A familiar sound reached my ears, and I grinned automatically. I jumped up from my seat and ran to the Doctor, who was grinning madly as the TARDIS started to materialise. "Sexy," I whispered, almost laying a hand on her (but the Doctor pulled it back- apparently I was getting too excited, but come on, Sexy was back!), "You're okay,"

"One, only I call her that, and two, she's gonna have a go at us once this is all over," He muttered back. "Probably dunk us in a pool of hot sauce- or maybe get us stuck on a spaceship with Ricky."

"You're a happy ray of sunshine," I muttered, but grinned nonetheless. Sexy was becoming more solid and I became happier. My grin became wider, and even the Doctor couldn't keep the excitement off his voice as he started talking. "Right, no one touches the key, Anybody touches the key, it'll be, well, zap." He looked down at me and I scowled at him.

"Why are you specifically looking at me while saying that?"

"Excuse me, have you met you?" He looked at everyone else, "Anyway, just leave it and everything will be fine. It'll be fine." He ran up to the podium, "We'll all be fine. Stuart and Sarah, you're gonna get married, just like I said."

~~~~

I was sitting next to the Doctor at the back of the church. He had said that it would take some time for the TARDIS to materialise properly and for us to get into it. I was twiddling my thumbs as I looked back and forth between Pete, Jackie, and Rose while bouncing my right leg up and down.

Someone nudged me on my shoulder and I turned to look up at the Doctor, who was frowning at me. "What's got you all jumpy all of a sudden?"

I shrugged and looked at Jackie, who turned back to look at Pete and Rose with a scowl on her face. 'Nothing, just soaking up the atmosphere before we get into Sexy again and get possibly murdered with hot sauce or whatever other punishment she's gonna give us for making her almost disappear,"

"No, you're anticipating something. And by the looks of it, something bad."

I scoffed. "And I'm the pessimistic one."

He sighed and turned to me. "Akright, we both know that you're a terrible liar and the face you're making right now is your something-terrible-is-about-to-happen-but-I-can't-tell-the-Doctor-because-spoilers face, so spill- or give me a random clue or something."

I shrugged. "Well, it won't be as terrible if I stop it from happening, I mean-"

"But what would happen if it happens?"

"Something terrible."

"It's all circles with you today, isn't it?" He turned back to the altar and sighed.

"What, would you rather have it be squares, or maybe parallelograms, or triangles, or rhombuses or rhombi or whatever they call the plural form of rhombus-" I trailed off as I continued looking at Pete and Jackie- and baby Rose.

"Are you gonna name every single shape there is?"

"I don't know, I might! Now shut up, I'm busy." Jackie stared at Rose with hawk eyes and I shuddered. The dreaded conversation was gonna happen soon- and Pete was gonna give Rose to Rose and the Doctor would be erased out of existence. Well, until Pete fixes everything. By dying.

I turned toward the TARDIS, who was materialising slowly but steadily as she kept becoming more and more solid.

A few moments of silence later, Rose cleared her throat. "So, after time sorted out-"

"Everybody here forgets what happened. And don't worry, the thing that you changed will still stay changed."

"You mean I'll still be alive." Rose turned around at the speed of lightning and the Doctor looked at the back of her head. I still kept my eyes on Jackie, who was staring at us more intently. "Though I'm meant to be dead. That's why I haven't done anything with my life. Why I don't mean anything."

"It doesn't work like that." The Doctor said, and I nodded, looking at Jackie, who put baby Rose down as she stood up. Any moment now.

"Rubbish. I was so useless I couldn't even die properly. Now it's my fault all this has happened."

Rose leaned toward him and put a hand on his arm. I nudged the Doctor slightly as Jackie walked toward us. "It's my fault." Rose whispered.

"No, love." Jackie was in front of all of us and I nudged the Doctor again and he looked down at me. "Jackie." I muttered, and he nodded, without looking at her. But he did shrink away a bit- looks like he didn't want a repeat of the mom-slap.

"I'm your Dad. It's my job for it to be my fault."

"Her dad?" Rose and Pete looked up to see a shocked Jackie. "How can you be her dad? How old were you? Twelve? That's disgusting!" The Doctor rolled his eyes and walked off. I, however slowly got up but stayed within baby carrying distance.

Pete stood up and walked toward Jackie. "Jacks, listen. This is Rose."

Jackie looked even more repulsed. "Rose? How sick is that? You give my daughter a second-hand name? How many are there? Do you call them all Rose?"

I turned around and readied myself as Pete sighed. "Oh. for God's sake, look! It's the same Rose!" He took baby Rose from Jackie and was about to hand her to adult Rose.

"No!" I stepped toward them and grabbed the baby, just in time.

~~~~

I was sitting next to the Doctor at the back of the church. He had said that it would take some time for the TARDIS to materialise properly and for us to get into it. I was twiddling my thumbs as I looked back and forth between Pete, Jackie, and Rose while bouncing my right leg up and down.

Someone nudged me on my shoulder and I turned to look up at the Doctor, who was frowning at me. "What's got you all jumpy all of a sudden?"

I shrugged and looked at Jackie, who turned back to look at Pete and Rose with a scowl on her face. 'Nothing, just soaking up the atmosphere before we get into Sexy again and get possibly murdered with hot sauce or whatever other punishment she's gonna give us for making her almost disappear,"

"No, you're anticipating something. And by the looks of it, something bad."

I scoffed. "And I'm the pessimistic one."

He sighed and turned to me. "Akright, we both know that you're a terrible liar and the face you're making right now is your something-terrible-is-about-to-happen-but-I-can't-tell-the-Doctor-because-spoilers face, so spill- or give me a random clue or something."

I shrugged. "Well, it won't be as terrible if I stop it from happening, I mean-"

"But what would happen if it happens?"

"Something terrible."

"It's all circles with you today, isn't it?" He turned back to the altar and sighed.

"What, would you rather have it be squares, or maybe parallelograms, or triangles, or rhombuses or rhombi or whatever they call the plural form of rhombus-" I trailed off as I continued looking at Pete and Jackie- and baby Rose.

"Are you gonna name every single shape there is?"

"I don't know, I might! Now shut up, I'm busy." Jackie stared at Rose with hawk eyes and I shuddered. The dreaded conversation was gonna happen soon- and Pete was gonna give Rose to Rose and the Doctor would be erased out of existence. Well, until Pete fixes everything. By dying.

I turned toward the TARDIS, who was materialising slowly. She was semi-transparent and was the same way and didn't become any more opaque than she was. I frowned, leaning forward a bit. If I remembered correctly, in the episode, she was steadily becoming opaque as time went by.

A few moments of silence later, Rose cleared her throat. "So, after time sorted out-"

"Everybody here forgets what happened. And don't worry, the thing that you changed will still stay changed."

"You mean I'll still be alive." Rose turned around at the speed of lightning and the Doctor looked at the back of her head. I still kept my eyes on Jackie, who was staring at us more intently. "Though I'm meant to be dead. That's why I haven't done anything with my life. Why I don't mean anything."

"It doesn't work like that." The Doctor said, and I nodded, looking at Jackie, who put baby Rose down as she stood up. Any moment now.

"Rubbish. I was so useless I couldn't even die properly. Now it's my fault all this has happened."

Rose leaned toward him and put a hand on his arm. I nudged the Doctor slightly as Jackie walked toward us. "It's my fault." Rose whispered.

"No, love." Jackie was in front of all of us and I nudged the Doctor again and he looked down at me. "Jackie." I muttered, and he nodded, without looking at her. But he did shrink away a bit- looks like he didn't want a repeat of the mom-slap.

"I'm your Dad. It's my job for it to be my fault."

"Her dad?" Rose and Pete looked up to see a shocked Jackie. "How can you be her dad? How old were you? Twelve? That's disgusting!" The Doctor rolled his eyes and walked off. I, however slowly got up but stayed within baby carrying distance.

Pete stood up and walked toward Jackie. "Jacks, listen. This is Rose."

Jackie looked even more repulsed. "Rose? How sick is that? You give my daughter a second-hand name? How many are there? Do you call them all Rose?"

I turned around and readied myself as Pete sighed. "Oh. for God's sake, look! It's the same Rose!" He took baby Rose from Jackie and was about to hand her to adult Rose.

"No!" I stepped toward them and grabbed the baby, just in time.

~~~~

I was sitting next to the Doctor at the back of the church. He had said that it would take some time for the TARDIS to materialise properly and for us to get into it. I was twiddling my thumbs as I looked back and forth between Pete, Jackie, and Rose while bouncing my right leg up and down.

Someone nudged me on my shoulder and I turned to look up at the Doctor, who was frowning at me. "What's got you all jumpy all of a sudden?"

I shrugged and looked at Jackie, who turned back to look at Pete and Rose with a scowl on her face. 'Nothing, just soaking up the atmosphere before we get into Sexy again and get possibly murdered with hot sauce or whatever other punishment she's gonna give us for making her almost disappear,"

"No, you're anticipating something. And by the looks of it, something bad."

I scoffed. "And I'm the pessimistic one."

He sighed and turned to me. "Akright, we both know that you're a terrible liar and the face you're making right now is your something-terrible-is-about-to-happen-but-I-can't-tell-the-Doctor-because-spoilers face, so spill- or give me a random clue or something."

I shrugged. "Well, it won't be as terrible if I stop it from happening, I mean-"

"But what would happen if it happens?"

"Something terrible."

"It's all circles with you today, isn't it?" He turned back to the altar and sighed.

"What, would you rather have it be squares, or maybe parallelograms, or triangles, or rhombuses or rhombi or whatever they call the plural form of rhombus-" I trailed off as I continued looking at Pete and Jackie- and baby Rose.

"Are you gonna name every single shape there is?"

"I don't know, I might! Now shut up, I'm busy." Jackie stared at Rose with hawk eyes and I shuddered. The dreaded conversation was gonna happen soon- and Pete was gonna give Rose to Rose and the Doctor would be erased out of existence. Well, until Pete fixes everything. By dying.

I turned toward the TARDIS. She was materialising, yes, but she was really dim and transparent, unlike how she was in the episode. It was almost like she was getting progressively dimmer. I jerked up and shook my head. No, no- you're just imagining things.

A few moments of silence later, Rose cleared her throat. "So, after time sorted out-"

"Everybody here forgets what happened. And don't worry, the thing that you changed will still stay changed."

"You mean I'll still be alive." Rose turned around at the speed of lightning and the Doctor looked at the back of her head. I still kept my eyes on Jackie, who was staring at us more intently. "Though I'm meant to be dead. That's why I haven't done anything with my life. Why I don't mean anything."

"It doesn't work like that." The Doctor said, and I nodded, looking at Jackie, who put baby Rose down as she stood up. Any moment now.

"Rubbish. I was so useless I couldn't even die properly. Now it's my fault all this has happened."

Rose leaned toward him and put a hand on his arm. I nudged the Doctor slightly as Jackie walked toward us. "It's my fault." Rose whispered.

"No, love." Jackie was in front of all of us and I nudged the Doctor again and he looked down at me. "Jackie." I muttered, and he nodded, without looking at her. But he did shrink away a bit- looks like he didn't want a repeat of the mom-slap.

"I'm your Dad. It's my job for it to be my fault."

"Her dad?" Rose and Pete looked up to see a shocked Jackie. "How can you be her dad? How old were you? Twelve? That's disgusting!" The Doctor rolled his eyes and walked off. I, however slowly got up but stayed within baby carrying distance.

Pete stood up and walked toward Jackie. "Jacks, listen. This is Rose."

Jackie looked even more repulsed. "Rose? How sick is that? You give my daughter a second-hand name? How many are there? Do you call them all Rose?"

I turned around and readied myself as Pete sighed. "Oh. for God's sake, look! It's the same Rose!" He took baby Rose from Jackie and was about to hand her to adult Rose.

"No!" I stepped toward them and grabbed the baby, just in time.

~~~~

I was sitting next to the Doctor at the back of the church. He had said that it would take some time for the TARDIS to materialise properly and for us to get into it. I was twiddling my thumbs as I looked back and forth between Pete, Jackie, and Rose while bouncing my right leg up and down.

Someone nudged me on my shoulder and I turned to look up at the Doctor, who was frowning at me. "What's got you all jumpy all of a sudden?"

I shrugged and looked at Jackie, who turned back to look at Pete and Rose with a scowl on her face. 'Nothing, just soaking up the atmosphere before we get into Sexy again and get possibly murdered with hot sauce or whatever other punishment she's gonna give us for making her almost disappear,"

"No, you're anticipating something. And by the looks of it, something bad."

I scoffed. "And I'm the pessimistic one."

He sighed and turned to me. "Akright, we both know that you're a terrible liar and the face you're making right now is your something-terrible-is-about-to-happen-but-I-can't-tell-the-Doctor-because-spoilers face, so spill- or give me a random clue or something."

I shrugged. "Well, it won't be as terrible if I stop it from happening, I mean-"

"But what would happen if it happens?"

"Something terrible."

"It's all circles with you today, isn't it?" He turned back to the altar and sighed.

"What, would you rather have it be squares, or maybe parallelograms, or triangles, or rhombuses or rhombi or whatever they call the plural form of rhombus-" I trailed off as I continued looking at Pete and Jackie- and baby Rose.

"Are you gonna name every single shape there is?"

"I don't know, I might! Now shut up, I'm busy." Jackie stared at Rose with hawk eyes and I shuddered. The dreaded conversation was gonna happen soon- and Pete was gonna give Rose to Rose and the Doctor would be erased out of existence. Well, until Pete fixes everything. By dying.

I turned toward the TARDIS. She was materialising, yes, but she was really dim and transparent, unlike how she was in the episode. It was almost like she was getting progressively dimmer. I jerked up and shook my head. No, no- you're just imagining things.

But- she was dimmer than last time. I shook my head again, snapping out of my trance. There was no last time, Liza, for God's sake.

"Alright. You feel it too, don't you?" I jumped and looked up at the Doctor, who was muttering to me.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"The TARDIS being all weird, you feeling like you experienced this before-"

"Wait, you feel that too?" I sighed and relaxed my shoulders. "Oh, thank God, I thought I was going insane."

"It's- it's almost like we're in a-"

"Time loop?" I whispered. He nodded. "And by the looks of it, the TARDIS is causing it with what's left of her energy."

"But why would she do that?"

The Doctor was about to answer, but Rose cleared her throat. "So, after time sorted out-"

I frowned, and the Doctor turned to me, mouthing, 'Time Loop', before turning to Rose. "Everybody here forgets what happened. And don't worry, the thing that you changed will still stay changed."

"You mean I'll still be alive." Rose turned around at the speed of lightning and the Doctor looked at the back of her head. I still kept my eyes on Jackie, who was staring at us more intently. "Though I'm meant to be dead. That's why I haven't done anything with my life. Why I don't mean anything."

I took a deep breath and looked around. Jackie was still the same, looking at us the same way she was last time and the time before- or how many ever times we were in the loop. Looks like only the Doctor and I weren't affected.

"It doesn't work like that." The Doctor said, and I nodded, looking at Jackie, who put baby Rose down as she stood up. She was gonna come here and then a lot of shit was gonna happen.

"Rubbish. I was so useless I couldn't even die properly. Now it's my fault all this has happened."

Rose leaned toward him and put a hand on his arm. I nudged the Doctor slightly as Jackie walked toward us. "It's my fault." Rose whispered.

"No, love." Jackie was in front of all of us. I nudged the Doctor again and he looked down at me. "Jackie." I muttered, and he nodded, without looking at her. But he did shrink away a bit- looks like he didn't want a repeat of the mom-slap. "She's here."

"I'm your Dad. It's my job for it to be my fault."

"Her dad?" Rose and Pete looked up to see a shocked Jackie. "How can you be her dad? How old were you? Twelve? That's disgusting!" The Doctor rolled his eyes and walked off. I held my position and stood close to them to catch Baby Rose before she touched adult Rose.

Pete stood up and walked toward Jackie. "Jacks, listen. This is Rose."

Jackie looked even more repulsed. "Rose? How sick is that? You give my daughter a second-hand name? How many are there? Do you call them all Rose?"

Pete sighed. "Oh. for God's sake, look! It's the same Rose!" He took baby Rose from Jackie and was about to hand her to adult Rose.

I leaned forward and grabbed the baby, holding her close before she touched Rose.

~~~~

I was sitting next to the Doctor. Again. I looked down at my hands. The baby wasn't there. I looked toward Jackie, who was still staring at us from her old seat, and at the TARDIS, who was getting more and more transparent every loop, by the looks of it.

"Reset." I looked up toward the Doctor, "At that exact moment. Every time. That same moment when you toom Rose away from the older one. But why? Why at that exact moment? It's almost like that time was dangerous or something for it to reset then..." He turned to me, "Liza, was this the terrible thing you were talking about? Or something along the lines of this?"

"No, it's far from this, I st-" Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh my God this was all my fault! My eyes widened and I looked up at the Doctor. "It's my fault. The time loop," I whispered softly (well, softer than how we were already whispering, we were talking in really low tones to begin with).

He frowned at me. "What do you mean, it's your fault, it's not, stop blaming yourself because of cannon events or something!"

"That's the whole point!" I threw my hands up to my chest, "I changed something, that's why this is all happening, that's why it's my fault!"

"What- what do you mean you changed something? You changed an established event! After all that happened today!" He glared at me. I opened my mouth to say something but his glare stopped me from saying anything at all. "I thought you were different but of all people, you changed everything!" He looked away, but he didn't sound angry. He was disappointed, which was even worse.

I swallowed the small lump in my throat that was forming, I took a deep breath and tried to keep my voice as steady as possible. "I'm sorry- and I know saying that isn't gonna fix anything, but I really am. It's just- if I hadn't- You would've been erased from existence- and Pete would've died to bring you back, I- I know I shouldn't have done that, but honestly-"

I shook my head and swallowed again as I tried to think of something else to say, but Rose cleared her throat. "So, after time sorted out-"

I sighed and looked down at my hands. Of course, the time loop. "Everybody here forgets what happened. And don't worry, the thing that you changed will still stay changed."

"You mean I'll still be alive." Rose turned around at the speed of lightning and the Doctor looked at the back of her head. I stared at my hands, biting my lip hard as I tried my best to not let the tears fall. I failed the Doctor- when he trusted me.. "Though I'm meant to be dead. That's why I haven't done anything with my life. Why I don't mean anything."

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I had to make thighs right- and that meant that everything had to happen the way it did in the episode. The Doctor getting erased from existence- Pete's final death- all the pain Rose had to go through- it was all going to have to happen.

"It doesn't work like that." The Doctor said.

"Rubbish. I was so useless I couldn't even die properly. Now it's my fault all this has happened."

Rose leaned toward him and put a hand on his arm. I opened my eyes again. I was gonna let Pete hand over the baby to Rose. "It's my fault." Rose whispered.

"No, love." Jackie was in front of all of us.

"I'm your Dad. It's my job for it to be my fault."

"Her dad?" Rose and Pete looked up to see a shocked Jackie. "How can you be her dad? How old were you? Twelve? That's disgusting!" The Doctor rolled his eyes and walked off. I stood up and walked away from them, but stood a little away from the Doctor, leaving him enough space to run toward Rose.

Pete stood up and walked toward Jackie. "Jacks, listen. This is Rose."

Jackie looked even more repulsed. "Rose? How sick is that? You give my daughter a second-hand name? How many are there? Do you call them all Rose?"

Pete sighed. "Oh. for God's sake, look! It's the same Rose!" He took baby Rose from Jackie and was about to hand her to adult Rose.

I stood my ground this time and stepped away slightly as the Doctor turned around and noticed what Pete was about to do. "Rose, no!" He ran toward them and grabbed the baby, but it was too late. I took a deep breath. Things were gonna go back to normal soon.

~~~~


End file.
